Questions for Asking about Consciousness in Children

1. I want you to close your eyes and imagine your mother's voice. Can you do that? If yes, then point to where your mother's voice seems to be coming from.

2. I want you to close your eyes and imagine your mother's face. Can you do that? If yes, then tell me where your picture of your mother's face seems to be. Is it inside your head? If yes, where are you, to see the image?

3. Can you think of one thing while you are looking at something else? For example, can you think of dinner while you are looking at a picture you are coloring?

4. Close your eyes again. Now, tell me what you are thinking about. (Do this for a minute).

5. When you are thinking, do you ever hear a little voice in your head? What does it sound like? Whom does it sound like?

6. When you are thinking, do you ever see images in your head? What do they look like? Are they in color? Do they move?

7. When you are thinking, can you think about a bird without seeing an image of a bird?

8. Do you have dreams when you are sleeping? If yes, then tell me a little about what kinds of things you have dreams about?

9. Can anyone else have your dreams?

10. Can you have the dreams of anyone else?

11. Do you ever dream that you are someplace other than in your bed? If yes, then where are your thoughts when you dream you are someplace else?

Psychology of Consciousness

Spring 2017 Dr. Whitlow

Guidelines for Project Reports for the Psychology of Consciousness

The main purpose of the projects for Psychology of Consciousness is to have you examine your conscious experiences under a variety of conditions and settings. To some extent, then, it is important that you simply have the experiences that accompany your carrying out any given project. In addition, however, I would like you to practice inspecting your conscious experience in a critical, analytic, and systematic way. Consequently, you must prepare a report for each project that includes a description of the experience and your reflections on the characteristics of your conscious awareness of the experience.

Each report should be 3-4 pages long, typed and double-spaced. It should describe what you did, when you did it, how you did it, and the context in which it was done. The report should also summarize your reflections on how the experience affected your consciousness. Use the following guidelines to structure your reflections:

1. How was your awareness of what was going on around you altered? Was your awareness heightened, diminished, or unchanged?

2. Were you more conscious of events and objects in the external environment (sights, sounds, smells, etc.) or were you more conscious of internal states (feelings, bodily sensations, etc.)? What kinds of sensations were you most aware of?

3. What were any emotional components like? Were they strong or weak, positive or negative?

4. Did you feel as though your attention was more focused or less focused than usual? Was there any indication that you were more (or less) focused than usual?

5. Were you aware of any internal commentary about the events and/or your experiences of them? Did you feel as though you were aware of your awareness?

6. Did your sense of time change? If so, did time seem to speed up or slow down?

7. Did your sense of space change? If so, did space seem to expand or to contract, or was it distorted in other ways?

8. Did your sense of self change? If so, did your sense of self become more sharply defined or more expansive?

9. Did the nature of your conscious awareness change as the experience continued?

10. After the experience was over, how long were you still aware of its aftereffects?

11. What kinds of retrieval of the experience have you had? Can you re-experience the event from memory? If so, what is the re-experience like and how does it compare to the original experience?

12. Was there any disruption in your sense of the continuity of your consciousness, either with respect to time (did you lose time?) or with respect to personal integrity (did you lose a sense of connection to part of yourself?)

Psychology of Consciousness

Spring 2017 Dr. Whitlow

Guidelines for Project Reports for the Psychology of Consciousness

The main purpose of the projects for Psychology of Consciousness is to have you examine your conscious experiences under a variety of conditions and settings. To some extent, then, it is important that you simply have the experiences that accompany your carrying out any given project. In addition, however, I would like you to practice inspecting your conscious experience in a critical, analytic, and systematic way. Consequently, you must prepare a report for each project that includes a description of the experience and your reflections on the characteristics of your conscious awareness of the experience.

Each report should be 3-4 pages long, typed and double-spaced. It should describe what you did, when you did it, how you did it, and the context in which it was done. The report should also summarize your reflections on how the experience affected your consciousness. Use the following guidelines to structure your reflections:

1. How was your awareness of what was going on around you altered? Was your awareness heightened, diminished, or unchanged?

2. Were you more conscious of events and objects in the external environment (sights, sounds, smells, etc.) or were you more conscious of internal states (feelings, bodily sensations, etc.)? What kinds of sensations were you most aware of?

3. What were any emotional components like? Were they strong or weak, positive or negative?

4. Did you feel as though your attention was more focused or less focused than usual? Was there any indication that you were more (or less) focused than usual?

5. Were you aware of any internal commentary about the events and/or your experiences of them? Did you feel as though you were aware of your awareness?

6. Did your sense of time change? If so, did time seem to speed up or slow down?

7. Did your sense of space change? If so, did space seem to expand or to contract, or was it distorted in other ways?

8. Did your sense of self change? If so, did your sense of self become more sharply defined or more expansive?

9. Did the nature of your conscious awareness change as the experience continued?

10. After the experience was over, how long were you still aware of its aftereffects?

11. What kinds of retrieval of the experience have you had? Can you re-experience the event from memory? If so, what is the re-experience like and how does it compare to the original experience?

12. Was there any disruption in your sense of the continuity of your consciousness, either with respect to time (did you lose time?) or with respect to personal integrity (did you lose a sense of connection to part of yourself?)