Stream of consciousness (psychology)
- Stream of consciousness (psychology)
Stream of consciousness refers to the flow of thoughts in the conscious mind. The full range of thoughts of which one can be aware can form the content of this stream, not just verbal thoughts. Commonly used experimental techniques, including self-reporting, gives easier access to verbal thoughts than to thoughts more closely connected to senses other than hearing and activities other than speaking and writing.
Proponents
William James is given credit for the concept. [James, William (1890), "The Principles of Psychology". ed. George A. Miller, Harvard University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-674-70625-0] He was enormously skeptical about using introspection as a technique to understand the stream of consciousness. "The attempt at introspective analysis in these cases is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how the darkness looks."
Bernard Baars has developed Global Workspace Theory [Baars, Bernard (1997), "In the Theater of Consciousness" New York: Oxford University Press] which bears some resemblance to stream of consciousness.
Criticism
Susan Blackmore challenged the concept of stream of consciousness in several papers. "When I say that consciousness is an illusion I do not mean that consciousness does not exist. I mean that consciousness is not what it appears to be. If it seems to be a continuous stream of rich and detailed experiences, happening one after the other to a conscious person, this is the illusion". [cite web|url=http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Articles/jcs02.htm|title=There is no stream of consciousness|accessdate=2007-11-05]
Literary technique
In literature, stream of consciousness writing is a literary device which seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences. Stream-of-consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. Its introduction in the literary context, transferred from psychology, is attributed to May Sinclair. [Wilson, Leigh, 2001. [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4086 May Sinclair] "The Literary Encyclopedia"]
ee also
* Free recall
* Edmund Husserl
* Phenomenology (psychology)
* Qualia
* Train of thought
References
External links
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Stream of consciousness — may refer to:* Ostensibly unedited, spontaneous live or recorded performances, as in film, music, and dramatic and comic monologues, intended to recreate the raw experience of the person portrayed or the performer * Stream of consciousness… … Wikipedia
Stream of consciousness (narrative mode) — In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individual s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character s thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection… … Wikipedia
Stream of Consciousness — Stream of Con|scious|ness 〈[stri:m əv kɔ̣nʃəsnıs] m.; ; unz.; Lit.〉 (von J. Joyce u. V. Woolf entwickelte) Erzähltechnik, bei der die Gedanken u. Gefühle einer literarischen Figur deutlich gemacht werden, indem der Gedankengang unmittelbar u.… … Universal-Lexikon
stream of consciousness — 1. Psychol. thought regarded as a succession of ideas and images constantly moving forward in time. 2. See interior monologue. [1885 90] * * * Narrative technique in nondramatic fiction intended to render the flow of myriad impressions visual,… … Universalium
Stream-of-consciousness technique — Der Begriff Bewusstseinsstrom (engl. stream of consciousness, oft fälschlich mit dem inneren Monolog gleichgesetzt) bezeichnet in der Literaturwissenschaft eine Erzähltechnik, die in ungeordneter Folge Bewusstseinsinhalte einer oder mehrerer… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Stream of Consciousness — Der Begriff Bewusstseinsstrom (engl. stream of consciousness, oft fälschlich mit dem inneren Monolog gleichgesetzt) bezeichnet in der Literaturwissenschaft eine Erzähltechnik, die in ungeordneter Folge Bewusstseinsinhalte einer oder mehrerer… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Stream of consciousness — Der Begriff Bewusstseinsstrom (engl. stream of consciousness, oft fälschlich mit dem inneren Monolog gleichgesetzt) bezeichnet in der Literaturwissenschaft eine Erzähltechnik, die in ungeordneter Folge Bewusstseinsinhalte einer oder mehrerer… … Deutsch Wikipedia
stream of consciousness — In the Principles of Psychology, i. 9. 239, James wrote: ‘Consciousness… does not appear to itself chopped up in bits…a “river” or “stream” are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described.’ … Philosophy dictionary
stream of consciousness — perception of thought as a series of conditions which flow with time (Psychology); recording of a series of thoughts on paper without any chronological or syntactical order (Literature) … English contemporary dictionary
stream of consciousness — noun 1》 Psychology a person s thoughts and reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow. 2》 a literary style in which such ideas are recorded without interruption by objective description or conventional dialogue … English new terms dictionary
