Suggested Reading

„ Weiten, W. (2004). Psychology: Themes

Altered Consciousness & Variations (6th ed.). Pages 197-200.

Dr. Gerard A. Kennedy

School of Psychology
Victoria University

Dreaming Function of dreams

„ Narrative dreams occur in sleep (REM)
„ Dreams - fantastic, frightening, insight,
pleasant, prophetic?
„ Most people dream whether they
remember or not
„ Why do we dream?
„ Freud (1900) - dreams - the “royal road
to the unconscious”
„ Content too threatening if expressed
directly
„ Dreams - expression of unconscious
desires or wishes

Function of Dreams Daydreaming

„ Activation - synthesis hypothesis
(McCarley & Hobson)
„ Organisation & interpretation occurs
during dreams
„ Evidence - fetus in womb dreams (REM)
„ Few species that don’t dream have
bigger brain (echidna & dolphin)
„ State of consciousness between
sleep/wake
„ Generation of creative ideas
„ Passing time (in boring lectures?)
„ Escaping from reality

1
 The Hypnotic State
„ sleep like state but EEG does not
resemble any sleep stage
„ normal function reduced, person tends
to wait for instruction
„ attention becomes highly selective
„ role playing is easily accomplished
„ post-hypnotic suggestion is observed
Phenomena of Hypnosis
„ Altered senses (i.e. hear, feel, see
things when prompted to do so)
„ Altered pain perception
„ Respond to posthypnotic suggestions
„ Age regression
„ Posthypnotic amnesia or enhancement
„ Non-volitional responses
Theories of Hypnosis
„ A form of deep relaxation (Edmonston
1981) - builds on Pavlov’s idea - EEG is
not the same as sleep. Resembles
transitional and waking states
(beta/alpha waves)
Hypnotic Phenomena
„ Two categories (a) observed, responses
of subjects (b) hidden observer (name
given to part of consciousness that
allows person to be hypnotised and
keeps watch)
Hypnotic Induction
„ Inducing deep relaxation, followed by
deepening
„ Speigel eye roll
„ Confusional scripts (counting etc..)
„ Other scripts (imagination/repetition)
„ Eye fixation on still or moving objects
„ Various other techniques
Theories of Hypnosis
„ Epiphenomenon - exists as outcome of
other process - Social psychology
explains it as role playing - However, in
trying to explain it away they give it
some credence (e.g. Sociocognitive
Theory, Spanos, 1991)
2
 Theories of Hypnosis
„ Neodissociative Theory (Hilgard 1991 -
(most popular view of those that
believe in Hypnosis)
„ Most people can separate one part of
the mind from another (e.g. driving
from point A to B - how did I get here?)
„ Hidden observer (i.e. part of the
conscious mind that looks out for you
under hypnosis)
Theories of Hypnosis
„ Social-Psychobiological (Eva Banya
1991) - subjective experience of altered
consciousness with somatic and
behavioural changes that are real also
following.

Meditation
„ Altered state of consciousness (alpha)
„ Many different techniques
„ Chanting
„ Breathing (controlled)
„ Body positioning
„ Rhythmic music/dance
„ Spending time on self-awareness