and of course medicine has it's own definition(s), just to complicate matters further. At 10:27 AM -0700 1/30/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >In discussing with my intro-to-psych students how confusion can arise when we >use the same term to refer to different ideas, I often use the example of the >word "unconscious." There is an everyday meaning of this term--a "much-reduced >awareness of external events"--and a psychological meaning of this term--the >"set of mental events of which the individual is not aware." (Even the >psychological meaning of the term varies among the psychodynamic and >cognitive >approaches, but I am not concerned with that here.) Thus, the everyday >meaning >of the term involves variations in how aware one is of external events >(changes in the "state" of the conscious level) whereas the psychological >meaning of the term involves variations in how aware one is of internal >events >(changes in the "level" of awareness--e.g., conscious to preconscious to >unconscious levels). > >I like using this distinction to make the point that controversies may >sometimes be due to the fact that the same term is used in different ways by >different researchers: students are familiar with both meanings of the term >but they probably never have thought about the fact that they use this >term in >different ways at different times (thus, it illustrates the problem for them >in their own lives). But, I have never seen this distinction discussed >anywhere. In fact, it seems to me that several intro textbooks (such as >Weiten's, which I used to assign), confuse the two meanings of the term. > >Has anyone ever seen a discussion of this distinction between the everyday and >psychological meanings of the term "unconscious"? Such a discussion might >help >me in making the point about different meanings of the same term; and it also >might help me in making sure that the distinction I am making is a real one. > >Jeff Ricker >Scottsdale Community College >Scottsdale AZ >[EMAIL PROTECTED] * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Psychology Department 507-389-6217 * * "The University formerly known as Mankato State" * * http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
