The Why, What and How of Human Consciousness

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 22 April 2015 - Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Time:

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Room:

GHD Auditorium, Advanced Engineering Building (#49)

URL:

https://www.psy.uq.edu.au/activity/events.html?eid=555

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Consciousness is a distinguishing trait of human experience, but does it cause behaviour or serve other useful functions? Recent critiques, especially from studies of automatic processes and brain functions, have suggested that it is inefficient and ineffective for controlling action and unnecessary for perceiving the environment. This talk reviews experimental studies on how manipulations of conscious thought cause changes in behaviour. It draws new conclusions about what conscious thought can and cannot do — and what it can do better than unconscious processes. It goes on to argue that the core functions of conscious thought are for relating to the social and cultural environment.

Roy Baumeister has published more than 500 articles and chapters, written and edited more than 30 books, and his work has been cited over 80,000 times.