What is Consciousness in Cognitive Psychology? - Types and Limits of Human Consciousness

What is consciousness in psychology?

Consciousness is the mental awareness of internal or external existence in which the human mind has the ability to communicate easily and directly with itself, and with the people around it, using the five senses it owns.

In cognitive psychology, consciousness is defined as our subjective awareness of our unique thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations, memories, and environment. 

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What is Consciousness in Psychology?

What is Consciousness in Cognitive Psychology? - Types and Limits of Human Consciousness

What is the Concept of Consciousness?

Consciousness is the mental state in which the human mind is aware, and has the ability to communicate easily and directly with itself, and with the people around it, using the five senses it owns.

Scientists have known consciousness as it is the state of mind that distinguishes a person from his ability to control his logical faculties. It means a sense of self and its value, perception, and emotional state, wisdom, and the ability to perceive; and the relationship between the individual and the things surrounding him.

What is Consciousness in Psychology?

In psychology, consciousness is defined as our subjective awareness of our unique thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations, memories, and environment. 

Consciousness is the psychology of awareness and it is completely different from a healthy awareness that means the safety and health of the body and mind.

What is the Difference between Consciousness and Awareness?

Consciousness is the awareness of our body, the quality of our mind and our environment. Our mind can be both conscious and unconscious, but when we cross our minds, there is no unconsciousness nor any consciousness. There is a self-awareness. Self-awareness means that your complete mind has become conscious and aware. Awareness is the hallmark of that consciousness - not only the knowledge of one's existence but further an understanding that one realizes and is aware of.

What are the Different Types of Consciousness?

There are many types of consciousness, its forms, and its classifications. Before elaborating on these types, it must be pointed out that there is a false and imaginary consciousness represented in the group of ideas and concepts that a person adopts and is convinced of, even though they do not fit and correspond to the reality in which he lives.

Sigmund Freud divides consciousness into three levels of awareness:  conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Each level matches and overlaps Freud's ideas of id, ego, and superego.

Modern psychological approaches to understanding consciousness include social, neuropsychological and developmental; each contributes to a different understanding of what consciousness can be.

All of them consist of a correct understanding of things and their origins, and scientists have limited this type psychologically to the following types:

Spontaneous state of consciousness: This type involves people carrying out certain spontaneous activities that do not require great mental thinking and effort.

Contemplative Consciousness: This is counter to spontaneous consciousness and requires strong mental thinking and presence, and it depends on higher mental capabilities such as intelligence, perception, and memory and it prevents a person from practicing any other intellectual activity.

Intuitive Consciousness: This is a surprisingly direct awareness that allows us to understand matters and relationships and does not require the ability to present evidence.

Moral Consciousness: Moral standard consciousness provides the opportunity to make judgments and assess things and behavior, by accepting or rejecting them, and this type is usually related to how we feel responsible to ourselves and to others.

Consciousness as a state of matter: A person has his own ideas, views, and special concepts about life and its affairs, and the nature of what is going on around him.

This awareness may be wrong when those ideas are incorrect and not in conformity with reality.

Hegel sees that a man is the only conscious and certain being of his existence and himself, as he was found by the same things that found the elements of nature. As for the other things, they only exist in one way.

Spiritual Consciousness: The concept of spiritual consciousness expresses a feeling of guiding signs that help a person discover the various facts in his private life, feel the real things and choose the appropriate options, by feeling thoughts about attitudes and matters, listening to the heart and the feelings that a person feels in order to obtain lighting that illuminates him the way to achieve everything he wants.

How consciousness is related to existence?

Consciousness is related to the science of existentialism, i.e., for a person to feel his psychological states and to understand their cause and meaning.

 It can be said that consciousness is a stream within the human mind that is represented in thoughts and feelings, and it often consists of a group of accumulated subjective experiences and feelings flowing towards something else.

What are the limits of human consciousness?

Consciousness is restricted by stereotypes and concepts that cause scientists to exist in the dark ages as far as their knowledge of human inner and outer senses and their cognition and perception are concerned.

Theories and opinions of scientists on the limits of consciousness differ from one scientist to another. These opinions differ in terms of the degrees of human knowledge. 

Karl Marx, for example, considers consciousness as the superstructure in which all human activities appear.

Marx also believes that it is not possible to finally, look at awareness without taking into account social conditions and circumstances.

Karl Marx said,

 It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but for their social existence that determines their consciousness. 

By this, consciousness is a negative reflection of reality. Consciousness can influence reality by contributing to its change, and thus it is true consciousness, or it contributes to its dedication and it is false consciousness.

The concept of physical consciousness differs, as it means waking up from consciousness, and it means cognition, as it means the physical condition of the body is stable.