The unified approach integrates both psychology and philosophy to offer up a modern, integrative approach to human consciousness.
Many Psych 101 texts do not touch on consciousness all that much, but there is one angle that the vast majority of textbooks include, and that is Freud’s topographical and structural models. The topographical model refers to how Freud divided up consciousness into unconscious, pre-conscious and fully conscious domains. The structural model refers to the forces of the id, ego and superego. Here is a very common depiction of the two models put together.
I am in the kitchen doing the dishes, when my 15 year old son Jon comes in complaining that he is hungry and that we don’t have anything to eat. I look over at a stocked fridge and pantry and internally shake my head at the spoiled nature of our existence. “You can always make a PB & J”, I sigh. “Fine,” he says with a slight huff and then goes about the process of making himself a sandwich, as I proceed to put away the dishes, mumbling to myself why is it that I do all the work around here.
Tôi đang trong bếp làm các món ăn thì cậu con trai 15 tuổi Jon của tôi bước vào phàn nàn rằng nó đói và chúng tôi không có gì để ăn. Tôi nhìn vào tủ lạnh và tủ đựng thức ăn đầy ắp và trong lòng lắc đầu trước bản chất hư hỏng của sự tồn tại của chúng ta. “Bạn luôn có thể làm PB & J,” tôi thở dài. “Tốt thôi,” anh ấy nói với một chút cáu kỉnh và sau đó tiếp tục quy trình làm cho mình một chiếc bánh mì sandwich, khi tôi dọn đĩa đi, lẩm bẩm với bản thân tại sao mình lại làm tất cả công việc ở đây.
I will use this everyday example to illustrate the topographical and structural models.
First, let’s divide the terrain of human consciousness up into the following three meanings:
1) observable acts of intention (as in, Jon was awake and aware and he consciously decided to make and eat a PB&J
Experiences/feelings, which is the “first-person experience of being-in-the-world”, which can be broken down into (a) sensations and perceptions (we can consider these “input”, meaning they are about taking in and interpreting what “is”, as in Jon sees, feels and tastes the PB& J
) and (b) drives, urges and emotions (we can consider these “output” feelings, meaning that they orient us toward action and what “ought to be”, as in Jon is hungry for a PB&J and feels satisfied after eating it and (c) imagined or simulated sequences of events (as in Jon imagined several possible meals prior to deciding on a PB&J
and
finally there is the 3) Explicit, Language-Based, Self-Conscious reflection (as in, when he says, either privately or publically “I guess I will have a PB&J”
