Consciousness: Crash Course Psychology #8

What exactly is consciousness? Well... that's kind of a gray area. In this episode of Crash Course Psychology, Hank gives you the basic ideas of what consciousness is, how our attention works, and why we shouldn't text and drive... ever... no, really, NEVER!

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Chapters:
Introduction: What is Consciousness? 00:00
States of Consciousness 1:51
Cognitive Neuroscience & Neuroimaging 2:16
Dual Processing 3:33
Selective Attention 4:23
Inattentional Blindness 6:13
How Magicians Use Psychology 7:08
Review & Credits 8:38
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Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[ThatGuyYouArent]

When Hank said "Do I smell pizza?" it reminded me that I actually had a pizza in the oven. I jumped up, rushed to the oven, and found the pizza perfectly done. So basically, Hank prevented the burning of my pizza. I'd almost totally forgotten about the thing! Thanks, Hank!

[sebastjansslavitis]

What is mind? - doesn't matter
What is matter? - never mind

[sophiemontecalvo]

SERIOUSLY!?!?! Of course I didn't notice the shirts - they are all so incredibly similar! Even when you showed us the scenes, I could not tell the difference!

[dennischiu]

6:34 That intermission was just adorable.

[linguaphilly]

This episode is hard to watch for me, I keep turning my selective attention to my own conciousness and the fact that I'm turning my selective attention to my selective attention and argh

[shriyasridharamaiya]

"one of the many perks of studying psychology with me is that you learn all kinds of different ways to mess with people"

yessss :'D

[MelissaFlaquer]

I am a med student on my las year of med school and the concepts you have presented in this series are pretty basic to me but you present it in a way that is easy to understand and remember, and right down lovely :D keep it going!! I wish I had this 4 years ago for my basic psichology course

[maiiouma]

and probably most people also didn't notice there is a dancing stick figure beside the lamp at 6:57 LOL :D

[HalTheAl]

Hank: So how do we keep focus and filter out all that chatter?

People with autism, ADHD or any kind of sensory processing disorder: hahahahahahahaha you tell me buddy

no but for real this is a great video for explaining "i dont hate you, i just cant stand physical contact sometimes because there's stuff youre not even aware is happening that i cant block out" in a bright, colourful, non offensive way without wanting to rip someone to shreds mid-meltdown

[shashanklaur]

If you think about it, it's really beautiful and deep how we think that we exist in this physical world and yet we don't. We're just our consciousness using this physical world.

[jordancox]

Oh my gosh. I haven't showered to day, my chair IS uncomfortable, and I DO have to pee!

[xFirebirdx]

<3 the dancing brain at the intermission.

[stutzman]

Thanks, now I can't get the feel of my tongue out of my mouth.

[theitaliankid]

Hank,
I wanted to say thank you for Crash Course (and especially Psychology, my favorite subject). Educating the world for free is very noble, and it is amazing that our current technology allowed us to do this. People, if you watch the videos on even a semi-consistent basis, send them some money!

[crashcourse]

In this episode of Crash Course Psychology, gives you the basic ideas of what Consciousness is, how our attention works, and why we shouldn't text and drive... ever... no, really, NEVER!

Consciousness - Crash Course Psychology #8

[livvydee]

I always watch these videos after studying for my psych exams as a complimentary aid . The visuals are very helpful and I enjoy your enthusiasm

[megmotherwort]

Wow, I think this was the best CC-psyc episode yet.  A broad and nuanced discussion in a succinct 9.5 min.  Well done!  Also, I'm glad to hear consciousness will get 3 episodes.  In many undergrad courses, this topic gets shirked to make more time for instructors' pet topics (I'm guilty of this myself).  Thanks for not taking that route!

[princesstarah]

The best part was when he said "Eyes here! We're learning." at the same time I opened Tumblr on my phone.

[AirStryke]

I didn't notice the feel of my socks on my feet before or after Hank mentioned it. That's probably because I'm not wearing any, and if I did feel socks I would be concerned.

[SecretFoxfire]

So much of this episode is super helpful for explaining and understanding what it means to be autistic. No (or at least reduced) selective attention. At a party or in a noisy room, I can't focus on one person talking and tune out the background. When I try to cross the street, I have to process every cigarette butt on the ground, every imperfection in the road, every sound of everything around me, and it can be difficult to figure out if there's a car somewhere in all that mess. And I'm always always always aware of the seams on my socks, the feel of the elastic band on my underwear, and the lopsided configuration of my teeth, every second of every day. When I take forever to figure out where something is or fail to notice one of the billion details I'm being bombarded with which non-autistic people automatically pick out as being important, people think I'm just not paying attention, but in fact, I can't help but pay attention, to EVERYTHING, which makes picking out the one important thing pretty impossible. Still, I also notice all the IMPORTANT stuff that everyone else tunes out, so it's not all bad.