Consciousness is the state or condition of being conscious. A sense of
one\'s personal or collective identity, especially the complex of attitudes,
beliefs, and sensitivities held by or considered characteristic of an
individual or a group. There are several different stages of consciousness.
Waking consciousness, altered states of consciousness and sleep.
Waking consciousness is the mental state that includes moving and thinking,
along with anything else done while we are awake and alert. Behavior during
this period is as normal as it can be. Although behavior can differ
from person to person, although most people go through the relatively same
behavioral patterns. While awake, people go through feelings of happiness,
depression, anger, and boredom, to name a few. These feelings can cause people
to do different things and act differently than normal. For instance,
happiness, caused by having something give them pleasure in some way, can cause
people to smile more or be more kind to other people, like doing other things
for people just to be nice, or giving presents and gifts to people. Depression
is caused by bad, non-pleasurable things happening to you. While depressed,
people may become distanced from their family and friends, not want to interact
with other people, and even, in severe cases, hurt themselves and/or others,
and even commit suicide. Many things cause anger and aggression also. They can
be caused by the interaction with other people like family and peers, but also
frustration, hot weather, physical pain, and even noise. While angry people may
act overly aggressive, lash out at others, even loved ones, and also commit
violent acts. Being bored can also cause people
to act differently. While bored people may do things like act and think hastily
and also commit crimes in hopes of satisfying their urge for fun and pleasure.
All these feelings have different causes but most include interaction with
people, television and different chemical balances and imbalances within the a
person’s body.
Another type of consciousness is altered consciousness. There are many
different types of altered consciousness. Daydreaming is one form of this type
of consciousness. Daydreaming is when, due to boredom or mental fatigue, a
person enters a dream-like state while awake. While not necessarily bad,
daydreaming can be a problem, especially at a time in which it is important to
be on full alert, like a security guard, or even a school student . It can
cause
a school student to miss something important or not react to a being called
upon by a teacher. Another type of altered consciousness is a drug induced one.
Each different type of drug can have a different effect on behavior, depending
on the drugs potency and side effects. Alcohol is one of the most widely used
drugs there are. It’s effects on behavior and personalities are
known by most, whether they abuse it, use it, or neither. Since alcohol is a
depressant while being intoxicated, people’s response time, and decision making
are effected strongly as the amount of alcohol taken in rises. At a
blood-alcohol level of .05%, a person feels good and is a little less alert
than normal. At .1%, a person is slow to react and much less cautious. At .15%,
a person’s reaction time is much slower. At .2%, the sensory motor skills
are largely suppressed. At .25%, a person will most likely be staggering and
have very bad perception. At .3%, the person is at a semi-stupor. At .35%,
a person is at a level for anesthesia and, depending on tolerance and body
weight, could possibly die; And finally at .4% death is likely. People like
drinking alcoholic beverages because of the feeling of courage, being care-
free and spontaneous. While drinking, the user may exuberate all of these
feelings and act more sexual and aggressive than they normally would. After
abusing alcohol for a long period of time a person may become an alcoholic. The
behavioral changes can be visible when a person is an alcoholic. The person may
become easily irritable, disenfranchised, overly aggressive, and suicidal. The
causes of these problems are not only caused by alcohol, but also from
alcohol-related health problems including memory loss, decrease in sexual
desire, impotence, menstrual problems, liver and kidney damage, cancer,
insomnia, and brain damage. There are many other drugs that can cause changes
in behavior. With stimulants such as caffeine, cocaine, nicotine, and
amphetamines, the user can be more excited, and have insomnia which may cause
irritability, paranoia, and dependency. With hallucinogens such as marijuana,
LSD, and PCP, behavioral changes include loss of contact with reality,
disorientation, and fatigue. Long term effects include physical and mental
dependence, insanity for LSD users, and possible death for PCP users.
The last stage of consciousness is sleep. Sleep can be defined as a natural
state of rest with reduced body movement and awareness of surroundings. Lack of
sleep is very influential in a person’s behavior. A
person who is tired can be less alert , appear uninterested in what people
are discussing, and seem to distance themselves from other people. People
who suffer from the most common sleep disorder, insomnia, have difficulty
falling or staying asleep. This can effect their behavior by causing reduced
concentration, and slow reaction time while in the waking state of
consciousness. Behavioral changes from lack of sleep include, of course,
fatigue. When a person is fatigued and tired it may cause them to be drawl, and
uninterested irritable, and lash out in fits of psychotic rages. All these
behavioral changes can cause a person to lose their job due to lack of
motivation towards completing a task, can cause a person to become distanced
from their friends, break up with their companions or spouses and act odd in
everyday life. Another type of sleeping disorder is narcolepsy. Narcolepsy
affects REM sleep and it’s mechanisms. People who are narcoleptic are
persistently tired and fatigued and experience loss of muscle tone. This loss
of muscle tone can cause brief paralysis of functions and even for a standing
person to fall to the ground. This disorder can effect a person’s behavior
negatively because of the difficulty in conducting everyday activities with the
fear of possibly losing consciousness or falling and getting severely injured.
It is also harder to lead a normal sex life because the sudden sleep and loss
of muscle tone can cause a person to become embarrassed to be close to someone
or a person to be frustrated with their partners disorder.
In conclusion, the three states of consciousness can effect behavior in many
different ways, whether it be positive or negative. Behavior is an important
part of life although getting enough sleep and avoiding drug abuse can help,
there are different things that can also effect people’s behavior in waking
consciousness. Relationships with other people like friends and family can make
a person have a lot of feelings like anger and happiness, and even television
can also effect a person’s behavior by violent show’s making people more
aggressive.