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There are six articles for you to choose from to read. You need to pick two articles and leave a comment for each. In your comment, you need to:

1. Summarize what you read (1-2 sentences).
2. Reflect on the information and how it may apply to your states of consciousness (2-3 sentences).
3. Include your name at the end of each comment.

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No matter what you’re
doing--solving homework, playing a video game, simply picking out a shirt--all of
your actions and decisions relate to your consciousness. But as frequently as we
use it, have you ever stopped to ask yourself: What really is consciousness? In this module, we discuss the differe…

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What Are Some of the Different States of Consciousness?

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Human consciousness plays a major role in many aspects of life, thought and behavior. Learn more about the different states of consciousness.

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Consciousness is the awareness of stimuli (both internal and external) and events. Awareness, however-both of internal psychological functioning and of external environmental factors-can change, and responses can vary widely as a result of an individual's level of consciousness. Imagine, for example, the response of a wide‐awake person to a knock on the door compared to that of a drunk person or one waked from a deep sleep. All living creatures undergo changes in levels of awareness throughout a 24‐hour period. Examples are the sleep‐wake cycles and the changes in biological cycles called circadian rhythms. Consequently, to understand the science of behavior and mental processes, psychologists must also understand the effects of levels of awareness (consciousness) on psychological functioning. Early investigations of consciousness. Psychologists have been concerned with the study of consciousness since Wilhelm Wundt conducted studies on the subject at the University of Leipzig in 1879. William James in 1890 described the mind as a stream of consciousness, a continuous flow of changing images, sensations, feelings, and thoughts. (To illustrate for yourself the concept of stream of consciousness, simply keep track of all your thoughts and feelings for 5 minutes, particularly while in class.) Edward Titchener (1867-1927) used a technique called introspection, whereby individuals could be trained to analyze conscious experiences. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was particularly interested in the lack of consciousness, the unconscious. Freud believed that the unconscious is a reservoir of unacceptable thoughts, wishes, and feelings that are beyond conscious awareness and that can be reached by psychoanalytic techniques.

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Consciousness is the awareness of stimuli (both internal and external) and events. Awareness, however-both of internal psychological functioning and of external environmental factors-can change, and responses can vary widely as a result of an individual's level of consciousness.

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Describing Consciousness

Consciousness is an individual's state of awareness of their environment, thoughts, feelings, or sensations; in order to experience consciousness, one must be both awake and aware.

Learning Objectives

Trace the history of the study of consciousness

Key Takeaways

Key Points

Philosophers since the time of Descartes and Locke have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness and pin down its essential properties.

The study of consciousness helps scientists shed light on the inner workings of psychology and neuroscience. Scientists who study consciousness examine the relationship between stated perception and neural activity.

The majority of experimental studies assess consciousness by asking human subjects for a verbal report of their experiences and then comparing their answers with the corresponding neural activity.

While primary sensory areas of the brain are often involved in perception, it is the higher brain areas such as the primary cortex that are required for consciousness to occur.

Issues of interest in consciousness research include phenomena such as perception, subliminal perception, blindsight, anosognosia, brainwaves during sleep, and altered states of consciousness produced by psychoactive drugs or spiritual or meditative techniques.

Key Terms

anosognosia: The inability of a person to recognize his or her own illness or handicap.

subliminal perception: Perception that is below the threshold of consciousness.

blindsight: The responsivity shown by some blind or partially blind people to visual stimuli of which they are not consciously aware.

Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself, such as thoughts, feelings, memories, or sensations. It has also been defined in the following ways: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive-control system of the mind. At one time, consciousness was viewed with skepticism by many scientists, but in recent years, it has become a significant topic of research in psychology and neuroscience.

Philosophy of Consciousness

Despite the difficulty in coming to a definition, many philosophers believe that there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is. Philosophers since the time of Descartes and Locke have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness and pin down its essential properties. Issues of concern in the philosophy of consciousness include the following: whether consciousness can ever be explained mechanistically; whether non-human consciousness exists, and if so, how it can be recognized; how consciousness relates to language; whether consciousness can be understood in a way that does not require a dualistic distinction between mental and physical states or properties; and whether it may ever be possible for computers or robots to be conscious.

The Mind-Body Problem

The mind-body problem is essentially the problem of consciousness; roughly speaking, it is the question of how mental experiences arise from a physical entity. How are our mental states, beliefs, actions, and thinking related to our physical states, bodily functions, and external events, given that the body is physical and the mind is non-physical?

The first and most important philosopher to address this conundrum was René Descartes in the 17 th century, and his answer was termed Cartesian dualism. The explanation behind Cartesian dualism is that consciousness resides within an immaterial domain he called res cogitans (the realm of thought), in contrast to the domain of material things, which he called res extensa (the realm of extension). He suggested that the interaction between these two domains occurs inside the brain. He further suggested the pineal glad as the point of interaction, but was later challenged several times on this claim. These challenges sparked some key initial research on consciousness, which we will discuss shortly.

Early Ideas on Consciousness

For over 2000 years, questions surrounding human consciousness-such as how the everyday inner workings of our brains give rise to a single cohesive reality and a sense of an individual self-have been baffling philosophers from Plato to Descartes. Descartes, as previously mentioned, is noted for his dualist theory of consciousness, in which the physical body is separate from the immaterial mind. He also gave us the most famous summary of human consciousness: "I think, therefore I am."

The historical materialism of Karl Marx rejects the mind-body dichotomy, and holds that consciousness is engendered by the material contingencies of one's environment. John Locke, another early philosopher, claimed that consciousness, and therefore personal identity, are independent of all substances. He pointed out that there is no reason to assume that consciousness is tied to any particular body or mind, or that consciousness cannot be transferred from one body or mind to another.

American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream-unbroken and continuous despite constant shifts and changes. While the focus of much of the research in psychology shifted to purely observable behaviors during the first half of the twentieth century, research on human consciousness has grown tremendously since the 1950s.

Current Research on Consciousness

Today, the primary focus of consciousness research is on understanding what consciousness means both biologically and psychologically. It questions what it means for information to be present in consciousness, and seeks to determine the neural and psychological correlates of consciousness. Issues of interest include phenomena such as perception, subliminal perception, blindsight, anosognosia, brainwaves during sleep, and altered states of consciousness produced by psychoactive drugs or spiritual or meditative techniques.

The majority of experimental studies assess consciousness by asking human subjects for a verbal report of their experiences. However, in order to confirm the significance of these verbal reports, scientists must compare them to the activity that simultaneously takes place in the brain-that is, they must look for the neural correlates of consciousness. The hope is to find that observable activity in a particular part of the brain, or a particular pattern of global brain activity, will be strongly predictive of conscious awareness. Several brain-imaging techniques, such as EEG and fMRI scans, have been used for physical measures of brain activity in these studies.

Higher brain areas are more widely accepted as necessary for consciousness to occur, especially the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in a range of higher cognitive functions collectively known as executive functions.

A History of Theories of Consciousness

Theories of consciousness include developmental, cultural, neural, computational, and moral perspectives.

Learning Objectives

Critique the major theories about human consciousness

Key Takeaways

Key Points

First appearing in the historical records of the ancient Mayan and Incan civilizations, various theories of multiple levels of consciousness have pervaded spiritual, psychological, medical, and moral speculations in both Eastern and Western cultures.

The Ancient Mayans were among the first to propose an organized sense of each level of consciousness, its purpose, and its temporal connection to humankind.

Sigmund Freud divided human consciousness into three levels of awareness: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

Modern psychological approaches to understanding consciousness include developmental, social, and neuropsychological; each contribute a different understanding of what consciousness might be.

Key Terms

consciousness: The state of being aware; awareness to both internal and external stimuli.

Sigmund Freud: (1856-1939) An Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis.

Historical Theories of Consciousness

Mayan and Incan Theories of Consciousness

First appearing in the historical records of the ancient Mayan and Incan civilizations, various theories of multiple levels of consciousness have pervaded spiritual, psychological, medical, and moral speculations in both Eastern and Western cultures. Consciousness can be defined as human awareness to both internal and external stimuli. Because of occasional and sometimes substantial overlap between hypotheses, there have recently been attempts to combine perspectives to form new models that integrate components of separate viewpoints.

The Ancient Mayans were among the first to propose an organized sense of each level of consciousness, its purpose, and its temporal connection to humankind. Because consciousness incorporates stimuli from the environment as well as internal stimuli, the Mayans believed it to be the most basic form of existence, capable of evolution. The Incas, however, considered consciousness a progression not only of awareness but of concern for others as well.

John Locke on Consciousness

John Locke, a 17th-century philosopher, was one of the first to speak and write on consciousness. He believed that our identity was tied to our consciousness, which he essentially defined as what passes through a man's mind, or memories. He also asserted that our consciousness is not tied to our physical bodies, and that it can survive even after our physical bodies die. In fact, Locke held that consciousness could be transferred from one soul to another.

René Descartes on Consciousness

René Descartes also addressed the idea of consciousness in the 17th century. He set out to answer the question of how it is possible that our consciousness, a non-physical thing, can come from our bodies, a physical thing. The explanation he came up with was called Cartesian dualism; in short, consciousness resides within an immaterial domain he called res cogitans (the realm of thought), in contrast to the domain of material things, which he called res extensa (the realm of extension). He suggested that the interaction between these two domains occurs inside the brain.

Sigmund Freud on Consciousness

While Eastern perspectives on consciousness have remained relatively stable over the centuries, fluctuations in theory have come to define the Western perspective. One of the most popular Western theories is that of Sigmund Freud, medical doctor and father of psychoanalytic theory. Freud divided human consciousness into three levels of awareness: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Each of these levels corresponds and overlaps with Freud's ideas of the id, ego, and superego. The conscious level consists of all the things we are aware of, including things we know about ourselves and our surroundings. The preconscious consists of things we could pay conscious attention to if we so desired, and is where many memories are stored for easy retrieval. Freud saw the preconscious as comprised of thoughts that are unconscious at the particular moment in question, but that are not repressed and are therefore available for recall and easily capable of becoming conscious (for example, the tip-of-the-tongue effect). The unconscious consists of things that are outside of conscious awareness, including many memories, thoughts, and urges of which we are not aware. Much of what is stored in the unconscious is thought to be unpleasant or conflicting; for example, sexual impulses that are deemed unacceptable. While these elements are stored out of our awareness, they are nevertheless thought to influence our behavior.

Modern Theories of Consciousness

While Freud's theory remains one of the best known, various schools in the field of psychology have developed their own perspectives, which we will explore below. It is important to note that these perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, just different approaches to the same questions.

Developmental Psychology on Consciousness

Developmental psychologists view consciousness not as a single entity, but as a developmental process with potential higher stages of cognitive, moral, and spiritual quality. They posit that consciousness changes over time, in quality and in degree: an infant's consciousness is qualitatively different than a toddler's, a teenager's, or an adult's. Abnormal development also affects consciousness, as do mental illnesses.

Social Psychology on Consciousness

Social psychologists view consciousness as a product of cultural influence having little to do with the individual. For instance, because different cultures speak different languages, they also codify reality differently. That difference in codification leads to differences in the experience of reality, and therefore of consciousness. Language is the main mechanism for transmitting a mode of consciousness, and an analysis of language can to some extent reveal the mentality of people who speak that language.

Neuropsychology on Consciousness

Neuropsychologists view consciousness as ingrained in neural systems and organic brain structures. A major part of the modern scientific literature on consciousness consists of studies that examine the relationship between the experiences reported by subjects and the activity that simultaneously takes place in their brains-that is, studies of the neural correlates of consciousness. The hope is to find activity in a particular part of the brain, or a particular pattern of global brain activity, that will be strongly predictive of conscious awareness. Several brain-imaging techniques, such as EEG and fMRI, have been used for physical measures of brain activity in these studies.

Neural Underpinnings of Consciousness

The neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) refer to the relationship between the experiences reported by subjects and the activity that simultaneously takes place in their brains.

Learning Objectives

Analyze the neural mechanisms underpinning conscious awareness

Key Takeaways

Key Points

Consciousness is the awareness of the self in space and time. Researchers attempt to study states of human consciousness and differences in perception in order to understand how the body works to produce conscious awareness.

Neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) are sets of neurons and series of events necessary for conscious perception. Neural correlates in the brain have been found to be both redundant and parallel, which makes pinpointing brain activity difficult for researchers.

Consciousness varies in both arousal and content. We have two types of conscious experience: phenomenal, or in the moment, and access, which recalls experiences from memory.

Neural correlates of consciousness are studied using fMRI and EEG scans, which attempt to locate brain activity. The most popular stimuli for these studies has become visual tests as they are easily recorded and manipulated.

Key Terms

arousal: A physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli, including elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility, and readiness to respond.

consciousness: The state of being aware; awareness to both internal and external stimuli.

Consciousness is the awareness of the self, the environment, and the relationship between these two distinct worlds. From ancient philosophers to modern-day scientists, many people have struggled to understand, research, and document the processes involved in human consciousness. Thanks in large part to advances in medicine, science, and psychology, we have learned much about how states of consciousness are created. Current research studies the neural correlates of consciousness by examining experiences reported by subjects and recording the simultaneous activity that takes place in their brains. Researchers continue to search for brain activity or global brain patterns that can be predictive of conscious awareness.

Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC)

The neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) refer to the relationship between the experiences reported by subjects and the activity that simultaneously takes place in their brains. The physical world is perceived by human consciousness through the senses, which funnel stimuli and information into the central nervous system, and eventually the brain. The brain is the major organ implicated in turning physical stimuli into thoughts and actions. The study of NCC seeks to link objective, observable, neural activity to subjective, unobservable, conscious phenomena. While discovering and characterizing neural correlates cannot offer its own theory of consciousness, the data and findings may one day lead to such a discovery.

Neural networks have been found to have a large amount of redundancy and parallelism, such that activity in one set of neurons cannot necessarily be said to correlate with the same perception over time. Scientists believe it may be the case that every phenomenal, subjective state has its own neural correlate. Continued advances in the ability to stimulate or induce activity in certain brain regions or sets of neural networks will help scientists answer ever more complicated questions about the characteristics and commonalities among neural correlates.

Neurobiology and Consciousness

The science of consciousness sets out to explain the precise relationship between subjective mental states and brain states, the relationship between the conscious mind and the electro-chemical interactions in the body. Progress in this arena has come from focusing on the body rather than the mind. In this context, the neuronal correlates of consciousness may be viewed as its causes, and consciousness may be thought of as a state-dependent property of some complex, adaptive, and highly interconnected biological system.

Most neurobiologists assume that the variables giving rise to consciousness are to be found at the neuronal level, governed by classical physics. More than ever before, neuroscientists are able to manipulate neurons
using methods from molecular biology combined with state-of-the-art optical tools (e.g., Adamantidis et al., 2007). Neuronal analysis and brain imaging techniques have become so fine-grained that a rational understanding of consciousness is within reach.

Dimensions of Neural Consciousness: Arousal and Content

Neuronal consciousness is often described as involving two distinct dimensions: arousal and content. In order for the brain to be conscious of any type of content, it must be in a high state of arousal. While awake and dreaming states are fundamentally different states of consciousness, they are both high-arousal, and thus allow for perception. Sleep is just one of the many types of consciousness we can experience and comprises several states of consciousness itself. Consciousness can also be phenomenal, such as our experiences in real time, or access, such as recalling a state of being or feeling.

Brain Areas Implicated in Consciousness

Another idea that has drawn attention for several decades is that consciousness is associated with high-frequency (gamma band) oscillations in brain activity. This idea arose from proposals in the 1980s, by Christof von der Malsburg and Wolf Singer, that gamma oscillations may link information represented in different parts of the brain into a unified experience.

Several studies have demonstrated that activity in primary sensory areas of the brain is not sufficient to produce consciousness: it is possible for subjects to report a lack of awareness even when areas such as the primary visual cortex show clear electrical responses to a stimulus. Higher brain areas are seen as more promising, especially the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in a range of executive (higher-order) functions. There is substantial evidence that a "top-down" flow of neural activity (i.e., activity propagating from the frontal cortex to sensory areas) is more predictive of consciousness than a "bottom-up" flow of activity. The prefrontal cortex is not the only candidate area, however: studies have shown that visually responsive neurons in parts of the temporal lobe reflect the visual perception in the situation when conflicting visual images are presented to different eyes.

Brain Imaging and Consciousness

One popular theory implicates different patterns of brain waves in producing different states of consciousness. Researchers can record brain waves, or tracings of electrical activity within the brain, using an electroencephalograph (EEG) and placing electrodes on the scalp. The four types of brain waves (alpha, beta, theta, and delta) each correspond with one mental state (relaxed, alert, lightly asleep, and deeply asleep, respectively).

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, can also be used to measure physical activity in the brain that correlates with different conscious states and perceptions. The ease in which visual perceptions can be manipulated in time and space has made visual studies, such as the Necker cube, one of the most preferred modalities for studying the neural correlates of consciousness. These studies take a seemingly simple and unambiguous visual stimulus and record differences in its subjective perception by a study participant. The cube, for instance, is 12 basic lines that can be interpreted in two different depths, creating a visual illusion. Scientists are interested in locating which neural correlates lead to differing mental interpretations.

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Consciousness is an individual's state of awareness of their environment, thoughts, feelings, or sensations; in order to experience consciousness, one must be both awake and aware. Trace the history of the study of consciousness Key Points Philosophers since the time of Descartes and Locke have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness and pin down its essential properties.

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1. In the article, it talks about how we have different levels of consciousness. Low awareness and high awareness. it discusses how the consciousness mind functions when you are asleep.

2. For me, it was fascinating to know that my my conscious is still awake while I am sleeping. There are times when I think I am by myself and I get caught off guard doing weird things while under the assumption I am in a private setting as well.
-Ketsia John

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The famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud believed that behavior and personality were derived from the constant and unique interaction of conflicting psychological forces that operate at three different levels of awareness: the preconscious, conscious, and unconscious minds. He believed that each of these parts of the mind plays an important role in influencing behavior.

In order to understand Freud's theory, it is essential to first understand what he believed each part of personality did, how it operated, and how these three elements interact to contribute to the human experience. Each level of awareness has a role to play in shaping human behavior and thought.

About Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalytic theory. While his ideas were considered shocking at the time and create debate and controversy even now, his work had a profound influence on a number of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature, and even art.

The term psychoanalysis is used to refer to many aspects of Freud's work and research, including Freudian therapy and the research methodology he used to develop his theories. Freud relied heavily upon his observations and case studies of his patients when he formed his theory of personality development.

Freud's Three Levels of Mind

Freud delineated the mind in distinct levels, each with their own roles and functions. The three levels of the mind are:

The preconscious consists of anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind.

The conscious mind contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally. This also includes our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily and brought into awareness.

The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness. The unconscious contains contents that are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.

Freud likened the three levels of mind to an iceberg. The top of the iceberg that you can see above the water represents the conscious mind. The part of the iceberg that is submerged below the water, but is still visible, is the preconscious. The bulk of the iceberg that lies unseen beneath the waterline represents the unconscious mind, often also referred to simply as the unconscious.

How the Unconscious Mind Affects Behavior

While the information in the unconscious mind is outside of awareness, it continues to have an influence on a person's behavior. Some of the ways the unconscious can affect behavior include:

Negative thoughts

Self-defeating thoughts and behaviors

Feelings of anger

Compulsive behaviors

Childhood behavioral problems

Difficulties in interpersonal relationships

Distressing patterns in romantic relationships

Attitudes about others

Unhealthy habits

Distressing dreams

First impressions of other people

Prejudice and stereotypes

The Freudian Slip

Another example of the unconscious mind can be seen in what are known as slips of the tongue. Many of us have experienced what is commonly referred to as a Freudian slip at some point or another. These misstatements are believed to reveal underlying, unconscious thoughts or feelings.

An example of a Freudian slip is a man who accidentally uses a former girlfriend's name when referring to a current girlfriend. While most of us might believe this to be a simple error, Freud believed that the slip showed the sudden intrusion of the unconscious mind into the conscious mind, often due to unresolved or repressed feelings.

Accessing the Unconscious Mind

According to Freud, thoughts and emotions outside of our awareness continue to exert an influence on our behaviors, even though we are unaware (unconscious) of these underlying influences.

The unconscious mind can include repressed feelings, hidden memories, habits, thoughts, desires, and reactions. Memories and emotions that are too painful, embarrassing, shameful, or distressing to consciously face are stored in the enormous reservoir that makes up the unconscious mind.

Role of the Preconscious Mind

The contents of the conscious mind include all of the things that you are actively aware of. The closely related preconscious mind contains all of the things that you could potentially pull into conscious awareness. The preconscious also acts as something of a guard, controlling the information that is allowed to enter into conscious awareness.

A Word From Verywell

While many of Freud's ideas have fallen out of favor, the importance of the unconscious has become perhaps one of his most important and enduring contributions to psychology. Psychoanalytic therapy, which explores how the unconscious mind influences behaviors and thoughts, has become an important tool in the treatment of mental illness and psychological distress.﻿﻿

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The Structure and Levels of the Mind According to Freud

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The unconscious mind includes thoughts outside of awareness. Learn about Freud's three levels of awareness: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.

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William James was trained as a medical doctor at Harvard University and became generally recognized as the first psychologist in America and his first and arguably most significant written work was " The Principles of Psychology " published in 1889. James's later philosophical work always retained a certain tendency toward the psychological and many of his core ideas were first expressed in this early work.

James was the first to describe consciousness as a stream - a continuous succession of experiences. He saw the most significant function of consciousness to be the role it played in selecting what to pay attention to.

James saw the stream of consciousness as an unending parade of thoughts, feelings, images, ideas, sensations, conceptions, emotions, etc. that appear before our conscious awareness and then pass away. But James, like Darwin did for species, and Dewey did for stimulus/response, recognized that the lines between these seemingly separate objects of consciousness was not as discreet as we at first might assume. In fact, he postulated, if each of our experiences was truly unique and separate from that which came before we would live in a chaos of random disconnected experience.

Instead of this chaos, our experience is a stream of consciousness in which the last thought we had is recognized to be part of a stream that our current thought is also a part of. In fact, all of our thoughts, yesterday and everyday are recognized to be part of that same river of awareness. According to James our cognitive experiences overlap so that each experience has a "fringe" in front and behind it. In this way, our present experience is always most obvious to us, but the tail end of the last few experiences that we had are still trailing off and the leading edge of our next few experiences are already entering into our awareness.

James had an intriguing conception for how the process of consciousness, including the process of thinking, can go on in a line that looks intelligently directed, but that does not require the existence of any independent entity that could be called a "thinker." (Hummmm....sounds a little like Darwin who discovered how what looks like an intelligently directed process of evolution could occur without any intelligent entity needed to direct it.)

Thinking is a goal oriented process and, as James envisioned it, a great deal of what propels our thinking forward is the feeling of satisfaction that we get as we perceive our next thought taking us closer to our goal. In this sense you can imagine thinking as a purely automated process that developed as an evolutionary advantage and doesn't require the existence of any spiritual entity that is in control of the process. I am not sure what Carl (our resident expert on BF Skinner) will tell us, but I imagine this is very close to Skinner's Radical Behaviorism.

There are three reasons that I feel this conception adds something to our conversation. The first is that it is yet another example of a view of reality that is founded on inherent continuity - or oneness. The second is that it calls to mind an image of psychology that I find very compelling. James envisions that we are all aware of a process of cognition and perception that can largely go on without us. We mistakenly see ourselves as the guiding force of that process, when in fact much of it - if not all of it - is a completely automated process being led by our desire to experience the satisfaction of believing that our thoughts are leading us somewhere. The last is that it brings us back to a fundamental question of freewill that must be asked if we are to come to a better understanding of what the heck we mean when we talk about "conscious evolution."

For James the question of freewill was one that belonged in the domain of metaphysics not psychology. In the last chapter of his "Principles of Psychology" he states that as a science, psychology must assume a deterministic process guided by elements of perception and relations. Personally, James was a believer in freewill. At the moment of epiphany that many believe was the guiding insight of his life, James discovered that belief was a choice and that the first thing he would choose to believe in was freewill. In his essay "Are we Automatons?" he tackles the question of freewill directly. He concludes that we are not automatons, that we are a selecting organ. While we may not consciously select what object initially appears in our awareness, we do choose to either hold that object with our attention or not once it appears.

I was never satisfied with our earlier discussion of freewill and have continued to think about it since then. I am ready - or almost ready - to dive into that once again.

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William James, The Stream of Consciousness and Freewill

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William James was trained as a medical doctor at Harvard University and became generally recognized as the first psychologist in America and his first and arguably most significant written work was " The Principles of Psychology " published in 1889.

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There are 2 states of Awareness low and high, low accommodates with simple things like reflexes. High awareness accommodates with recognizing how you evaluate someone. Low awareness applies to me when I hear someone call my name and I answer out of habit. High awareness applies to me when I’m deciding what I want to eat or want to do. I have to think about what is going to help me lose weight and what will only cause me to gain more.

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This article goes over the different factors that can alter your consciousness as well as the different level of awareness. In the low awareness state your brain is still able to process any signals they may be given. In the high awareness state you have more control over your thoughts. The different factors that may alter your state is body clocks, sleep, dreams, hypnosis, and drugs. My state of consciousness can vary throughout the day depending on how much sleep I got, which can make me irritable. As well as body clocks which rage from having energy in the morning and it slowly decreases throughout the day to having no energy in the morning and getting very energetic when the day finally comes to an end.
Ariana Rogers

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This article goes over preconscious, conscious, and unconscious mind. These three sates of mind play a key role in the influence of our behavior as said by Sigmund Freud's. Our unconscious mind plays a key role into how our conscious mind thinks because of our different emotions, thoughts, hidden memories, repressed thoughts, habits and desires. I relate quite a bit in a way because I have a lot of child hood suppressed memories that I have yet to deal with, which affects my actions and my minds ability to switch between thoughts and feelings quite fast.
Ariana R