COGSCI180 MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE
Dissociation from the Self - Answer -Dissociation/dissociative disorders often linked to
trauma
During traumatic experiences, intense desire to act happens while paralyzed with horror
- body/brain "freeze" → dissociate to avoid physical/emotional pain
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Answer -Develops in response to a
shocking/scary/dangerous event
Symptoms: disturbing thoughts/feelings/dreams related to events, mental/physical
distress to trauma-related cues
Neurologically, PTSD characterized by: hyperarousal, dissociation, attempts to avoid
trauma-related cues, negative changes in thinking and mood, increase in fight-or-flight
response
Dissociative aspect of trauma - Answer -The trauma experience entails urge to take
action (fight or flight) @ same time that one is paralyzed by helplessness
- Sense of horror "frozen" in body → person dissociates
As a result, little/no connections form
between neocortex & memory
storage/emotional centers (e.g., amygdala)
PTSD associated with over-activation of brain's opioid system → numbing of feelings,
sense of being cut off
from life/concern about others' feelings
Psychotherapeutic treatment for PTSD may take the form of... - Answer -2 forms:
1) Cognitive behavioral therapy: patient retells/reconstructs story of trauma in safe
environment (play therapy for children)
2) Somatic therapies:
- In trauma, sense of horror gets "frozen" in body → person dissociates
- Somatic therapies like bioenergetics, sensorimotor psychotherapy, EMDR focus on
helping clients...
− Reconnect w/emotions by reconnecting w/body
− Express frozen emotions to foster emotional release, heal trauma. Ex: Pat Ogden
case
- Mindfulness therapy for treatment of trauma may work similarly
★ Case examples of traumatic memories getting frozen in body
,Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - Answer -Patient asked to retell/reconstruct story
of trauma in safe environment (play therapy for children)
- Story should include emotional reactions experienced + events
- Goal: put entire memory into words to capture dissociated parts from conscious recall
- Memories are thereby brought more under control of neocortex - reactions they kindle
can be more manageable
- Also, retelling story in safety/security, with trusted therapist enables security rather
than terror to be associated/connected to trauma memories
May need to focus more on Cognitive Behavior Therapy, relaxation techniques, or
physical exercise initially, esp in cases of severe trauma
Somatic therapies (methods, goals, example) - Answer -Bioenergetics, sensorimotor
psychotherapy, EMDR
In trauma, horror gets "frozen" in body → person dissociates. Somatic therapies focus
on helping clients...
− Reconnect w/those emotions by reconnecting with the body
− Express frozen emotions as a way to foster emotional release & heal trauma
Ex: Pat Ogden case
Mindfulness therapy for treatment of trauma may work in a similar way
★ Case examples of traumatic memories getting frozen in body
Early Philosophers' Views of the Self - Answer -West(ancient Greeks)/East early
philosophers primarily interested in questions:
− How does one lead a good life?
− How does one find meaning in life?
Concern: thinking what is the real self & how to merge with that, no distinction btwn
philosophy/religion
Not interested in questions about self that modern people focus on - "Who am I"...
− What is my personality like? What are my
memories, goals, interests?
− What is the self? Where is it in the brain?
Plato's dualistic view - Answer -• Universe = ordinary dusty world + higher realm of
ideal perfection - the Forms
− Forms = truth, beauty, moral goodness, eudaimonia (deeply meaningful happiness),
etc. → point towards a higher dimension - nothing in ordinary world can explain
So there is...
− Apparent world of concrete objects, grasped by the senses, constantly changing
− Forms: unchanging, unseen world of abstract objects grasped by reason
,➜ World is mere shadows of the Forms
Intellect is immaterial because Forms are immaterial, intellect must have affinity
w/Forms it apprehends
★ Emphasis in Platonic philosophy was on higher world of Forms to which
real self belongs & merging with that
The mind-body problem - Answer -Central issue to question of "What is the self?": =
mind-body problem:
- What is the relationship between mind and body/brain?
- Alt: What is relationship between mental and physical properties?
Physical properties: public - equally observable by anyone
- Some require appropriate equipment, e.g., electron microscope
Mental properties: conscious mental events are private to beholder - have a privileged
access that no one else has
- I may be able to tell you are in pain, but only you can feel directly
- Only you know how something looks to you; I can only guess
Different viewpoints which developed in Western philosophy - Answer -Monism:
materialism (behaviorism, mind-brain identity theory, functionalism, computational
theory of mind), idealism, transcendental idealism
Dualism:
Monism - Answer -Only one kind of substance in the universe
Ex:
- Materialism: everything that exists is physical: behaviorism, mind-brain identity theory,
functionalism, computational theory of mind
- Idealism: everything is actually mind, including material world
- Transcendental idealism: subtype of idealism that integrates idealism with empiricism,
which emphasizes importance of sensory experience
Materialism - Answer -Materialism: All things - including mind - are physical
- Mental states are just physical states
- Mind is just the brain - everything
that happens in the mind is happening in the brain
- Aristotle: brain is like lump of clay; the different thoughts mind can take on during
patterns of activity are like shapes clay can assume
- Most cognitive scientists today hold this view
- Examples of materialism: behaviorism, mind-brain identity theory, functionalism,
computational theory of mind
Idealism - Answer -Everything - including the material world - is actually mind
, George Berkeley (1685-1753): one of most famous idealistic philosophers
- Everything you can know is actually mental
− Everything else colored by perception. Ex: How would you know if what you perceive
as blue is what other people perceive as red?
Subtype: Transcendental idealism: subtype of idealism that integrates idealism with
empiricism, which emphasizes importance of sensory experience
Transcendental idealism - Answer -Subtype of idealism - integrates idealism with
empiricism, emphasizes importance of sensory experience
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): transcendental idealist
− Wanted to find more balanced position combining empiricism/rationalism/idealism
− Emphasized observation - examining what is revealed by sensory experience and
reason, also held that there are categories and structures from the mind ("add-ons") that
are imposed on perceptions
− Anticipated modern cognitive science
Monism > Idealism
Dualism - Answer -Theory that mental & physical - or mind & body/brain - are different
kinds of things
Both mental & physical are real - neither can be assimilated to the other. Ex: belief in a
soul that is distinct and separate from body
- Few cognitive scientists are dualists
- Mind-body dualism is most closely associated with thought of Rene Descartes (1596-
1650) - "I think, therefore I am"
View that most cognitive scientists hold today - Answer -Materialism: All things -
including mind - are physical
Descartes view - Answer -Zhuangzi quote: How can anyone know that they actually
exist, rather than being in some sort of dream?
Human senses are unreliable - Descartes: didn't know whether actually sitting in room in
dressing gown next to a fire or just dreaming
Evil genius thought experiment:
- Descartes posited existence of evil genius whose purpose in life = deceive us -
everything we believe, every sense experienced, every thought could all have been put
in our minds by evil genius. How
could we know that this was not the case?
Dissociation from the Self - Answer -Dissociation/dissociative disorders often linked to
trauma
During traumatic experiences, intense desire to act happens while paralyzed with horror
- body/brain "freeze" → dissociate to avoid physical/emotional pain
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Answer -Develops in response to a
shocking/scary/dangerous event
Symptoms: disturbing thoughts/feelings/dreams related to events, mental/physical
distress to trauma-related cues
Neurologically, PTSD characterized by: hyperarousal, dissociation, attempts to avoid
trauma-related cues, negative changes in thinking and mood, increase in fight-or-flight
response
Dissociative aspect of trauma - Answer -The trauma experience entails urge to take
action (fight or flight) @ same time that one is paralyzed by helplessness
- Sense of horror "frozen" in body → person dissociates
As a result, little/no connections form
between neocortex & memory
storage/emotional centers (e.g., amygdala)
PTSD associated with over-activation of brain's opioid system → numbing of feelings,
sense of being cut off
from life/concern about others' feelings
Psychotherapeutic treatment for PTSD may take the form of... - Answer -2 forms:
1) Cognitive behavioral therapy: patient retells/reconstructs story of trauma in safe
environment (play therapy for children)
2) Somatic therapies:
- In trauma, sense of horror gets "frozen" in body → person dissociates
- Somatic therapies like bioenergetics, sensorimotor psychotherapy, EMDR focus on
helping clients...
− Reconnect w/emotions by reconnecting w/body
− Express frozen emotions to foster emotional release, heal trauma. Ex: Pat Ogden
case
- Mindfulness therapy for treatment of trauma may work similarly
★ Case examples of traumatic memories getting frozen in body
,Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - Answer -Patient asked to retell/reconstruct story
of trauma in safe environment (play therapy for children)
- Story should include emotional reactions experienced + events
- Goal: put entire memory into words to capture dissociated parts from conscious recall
- Memories are thereby brought more under control of neocortex - reactions they kindle
can be more manageable
- Also, retelling story in safety/security, with trusted therapist enables security rather
than terror to be associated/connected to trauma memories
May need to focus more on Cognitive Behavior Therapy, relaxation techniques, or
physical exercise initially, esp in cases of severe trauma
Somatic therapies (methods, goals, example) - Answer -Bioenergetics, sensorimotor
psychotherapy, EMDR
In trauma, horror gets "frozen" in body → person dissociates. Somatic therapies focus
on helping clients...
− Reconnect w/those emotions by reconnecting with the body
− Express frozen emotions as a way to foster emotional release & heal trauma
Ex: Pat Ogden case
Mindfulness therapy for treatment of trauma may work in a similar way
★ Case examples of traumatic memories getting frozen in body
Early Philosophers' Views of the Self - Answer -West(ancient Greeks)/East early
philosophers primarily interested in questions:
− How does one lead a good life?
− How does one find meaning in life?
Concern: thinking what is the real self & how to merge with that, no distinction btwn
philosophy/religion
Not interested in questions about self that modern people focus on - "Who am I"...
− What is my personality like? What are my
memories, goals, interests?
− What is the self? Where is it in the brain?
Plato's dualistic view - Answer -• Universe = ordinary dusty world + higher realm of
ideal perfection - the Forms
− Forms = truth, beauty, moral goodness, eudaimonia (deeply meaningful happiness),
etc. → point towards a higher dimension - nothing in ordinary world can explain
So there is...
− Apparent world of concrete objects, grasped by the senses, constantly changing
− Forms: unchanging, unseen world of abstract objects grasped by reason
,➜ World is mere shadows of the Forms
Intellect is immaterial because Forms are immaterial, intellect must have affinity
w/Forms it apprehends
★ Emphasis in Platonic philosophy was on higher world of Forms to which
real self belongs & merging with that
The mind-body problem - Answer -Central issue to question of "What is the self?": =
mind-body problem:
- What is the relationship between mind and body/brain?
- Alt: What is relationship between mental and physical properties?
Physical properties: public - equally observable by anyone
- Some require appropriate equipment, e.g., electron microscope
Mental properties: conscious mental events are private to beholder - have a privileged
access that no one else has
- I may be able to tell you are in pain, but only you can feel directly
- Only you know how something looks to you; I can only guess
Different viewpoints which developed in Western philosophy - Answer -Monism:
materialism (behaviorism, mind-brain identity theory, functionalism, computational
theory of mind), idealism, transcendental idealism
Dualism:
Monism - Answer -Only one kind of substance in the universe
Ex:
- Materialism: everything that exists is physical: behaviorism, mind-brain identity theory,
functionalism, computational theory of mind
- Idealism: everything is actually mind, including material world
- Transcendental idealism: subtype of idealism that integrates idealism with empiricism,
which emphasizes importance of sensory experience
Materialism - Answer -Materialism: All things - including mind - are physical
- Mental states are just physical states
- Mind is just the brain - everything
that happens in the mind is happening in the brain
- Aristotle: brain is like lump of clay; the different thoughts mind can take on during
patterns of activity are like shapes clay can assume
- Most cognitive scientists today hold this view
- Examples of materialism: behaviorism, mind-brain identity theory, functionalism,
computational theory of mind
Idealism - Answer -Everything - including the material world - is actually mind
, George Berkeley (1685-1753): one of most famous idealistic philosophers
- Everything you can know is actually mental
− Everything else colored by perception. Ex: How would you know if what you perceive
as blue is what other people perceive as red?
Subtype: Transcendental idealism: subtype of idealism that integrates idealism with
empiricism, which emphasizes importance of sensory experience
Transcendental idealism - Answer -Subtype of idealism - integrates idealism with
empiricism, emphasizes importance of sensory experience
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): transcendental idealist
− Wanted to find more balanced position combining empiricism/rationalism/idealism
− Emphasized observation - examining what is revealed by sensory experience and
reason, also held that there are categories and structures from the mind ("add-ons") that
are imposed on perceptions
− Anticipated modern cognitive science
Monism > Idealism
Dualism - Answer -Theory that mental & physical - or mind & body/brain - are different
kinds of things
Both mental & physical are real - neither can be assimilated to the other. Ex: belief in a
soul that is distinct and separate from body
- Few cognitive scientists are dualists
- Mind-body dualism is most closely associated with thought of Rene Descartes (1596-
1650) - "I think, therefore I am"
View that most cognitive scientists hold today - Answer -Materialism: All things -
including mind - are physical
Descartes view - Answer -Zhuangzi quote: How can anyone know that they actually
exist, rather than being in some sort of dream?
Human senses are unreliable - Descartes: didn't know whether actually sitting in room in
dressing gown next to a fire or just dreaming
Evil genius thought experiment:
- Descartes posited existence of evil genius whose purpose in life = deceive us -
everything we believe, every sense experienced, every thought could all have been put
in our minds by evil genius. How
could we know that this was not the case?
