Question

Researcher A believes that waking is a more conscious state than dreaming. Researcher B believes that, in contrast, dreaming is a more conscious state than waking. Researcher C believes that Researchers A and B are both wrong, because waking and dreaming represent different “types” rather than different “levels” of consciousness. In 50-100 words, describe the justification for each Researcher’s belief, using materials in the lecture on States of Consciousness.

Answer 1

Consciousness is a state where one is not only aware of his/her surroundings but is also responsive to it. So, when you are conscious you are aware of your unique thoughts memories, feelings, sensations, and environment. This awareness is subjective and unique to you. Now, researcher A believes that waking is a more conscious state than dreaming. Let's look at Freud's classification of consciousness. According to Freud, consciousness is the state of being aware of both internal and external stimuli. Since you are aware you can actively control your behavior if you want. Freud classified consciousness into the conscious level (one is aware of his/her feelings at the present), the preconscious level (if we pay conscious attention, the memories can be recalled back, for example, the tip of the tongue phenomena) and lastly the unconscious level. He also believed that sometimes these hidden desires make themselves known through dreams and slips of the tongue which he called Freudian slips. In his book Freud, 'Interpretation of dreams', he has talked about how dreams are an expression of sexual urges and aggression which is repressed in one's unconscious mind. One does not have control over dreaming and is pushed from our unconscious state. On the other hand, waking is a state of consciousness in which individuals are conscious and can engage in the cognitive and behavioral response to the external world. Therefore, waking can be considered as a more conscious state than waking.

Researcher B believes that dreaming is a more conscious state than waking. As mentioned earlier waking is a state of consciousness. However, during our first waking hours, we almost spend half an hour or so thinking about something other than thinking about our immediate surroundings which are also known as '' daydreaming'' or '' mind wandering'. This can be referred to as resting wakefulness where our mind generates thoughts, future plans, and fictitious scenarios. In this phase people often at times, loses the track of time and forget what they were thinking in the very first place. So, we can say that daydreaming or mind-wandering is more like an automatic process over which we do not have full control. Now let's talk about lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is the act of retaining or gaining consciousness while you are still asleep, usually during the dreaming phase- REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Research shows that those who have lucid dreams have greater control over their thoughts and actions within their dream, are able to think logically and are better at accessing memories from their waking reality. Hence, it can be said that dreaming is more of a conscious state than waking.

Researcher C believes that Researchers A and B are both wrong. One reason why dreaming is treated separately from waking is that in dreaming experience is assumed to have bizarre, hallucinatory and cognitively-deficient phenomenology that separates it as a different class of experience. Our experience changes as we move through different states of consciousness. One notable difference that one experiences when they are awake is the increase in the vividness of perceptual imagery coupled with attenuated awareness of the outside world. The waking experience is experienced by our central nervous system responses to external stimuli sensed by our sensory organs (i.e., smell, taste, touch, hearing, and vision). In the sleeping state, on the other hand, there is a minimum external input and a maximum of internally generated experiences which we call dreaming. Hence, it can be stated that dreaming and waking are different types rather than just different levels of consciousness.