Psychology2016

Consciousness 139

An altered state of consciousness occurs when there is a shift in the quality or
pattern of your mental activity. Thoughts may become fuzzy and disorganized, and you
may feel less alert, or your thoughts may take bizarre turns, as they so often do in dreams.
Sometimes being in an altered state may mean being in a state of increased alertness, as
when under the influence of a stimulant. You may also divide your conscious awareness,
as when you drive to work or school and then wonder how you got there—one level of
conscious awareness was driving, while the other was thinking about the day ahead,
perhaps. This altered state of divided consciousness can be a dangerous thing, as many
people who try to drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time have discovered. Peo-
ple are often unaware that there are two kinds of thought processes, controlled processes
and automatic processes (Bargh et al., 2012; Huang & Bargh, 2014). Controlled processes
are those that require our conscious attention to a fairly high degree, such as driving,
carrying on a conversation, or taking notes in your psychology class (you are taking
notes, right?). Automatic processes require far less of a conscious level of attention—we
are aware of these actions at a low level of conscious awareness, and examples would be
brushing one’s hair or well-practiced actions such as walking or riding a bicycle. Driving
a car along a familiar path can become fairly automatic, hence the experience of driving
somewhere and not knowing how you got there—driving is really a control process, not
an automatic one, but we often forget to pay attention to this fact. Controlled processes
such as driving or carrying on a conversation should only be done one at a time, while
you can do an automatic process and a controlled process at the same time without too
much trouble. Talking on a cell phone while brushing your hair is okay, for example, but
talking on a cell phone while driving your car is not. Studies have shown that driving
while talking on a cell phone, even a hands-free phone, puts a person at the same degree
of risk as driving under the influence of alcohol (Alm & Nilsson, 1995; Briem & Hedman,
1995; Strayer & Drews, 2007; Strayer & Johnston, 2001; Strayer et al., 2006, 2014). Tex-
ting while driving is more than risky—it can be murderous (Centers for Disease Control,
2015d; Eastern Virginia Medical School, 2009; Wang et al., 2012). to Learning
Objective PIA.2. Participate in the survey What Altered States Have You Experienced? to
discover more about your own encounters with various states of consciousness.

The driver of this car has several competing

demands on his attention: working his cell

phone, listening to the passenger read to

him, and driving his car. If he manages

to get himself and his passenger safely

to their destination—and by multitasking

while driving he is certainly endangering

both of their lives, and others as well—it’s

possible that he won’t even remember the

trip; he may be driving in an altered state of

consciousness.

There are many forms of altered states of consciousness. For example, daydream-
ing, being hypnotized, or achieving a meditative state are usually considered to be altered
states. to Learning Objective 11.10. Being under the influence of certain drugs

altered state of consciousness

state in which there is a shift in the

quality or pattern of mental activity as

compared to waking consciousness.

Simulate the Experiment What Altered States Have You Experienced?

Survey WHAT ALTERED STATES HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED?

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INTRODUCTION SURVEY RESULTS

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This survey asks you about your attitudes

toward and experiences with a broad range of

psychological principles and theories.

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