Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

4. Leslie repeats a unique sound, known as a 
, 
when she engages in meditation.
R E T H I N K
1. Why do you think people in almost every culture seek 
ways of altering their states of consciousness?
2. From the perspective of a human resources specialist : Would 
you allow (or even encourage) employees to engage in 
meditation during the workday? Why or why not?
Answers to Evaluate Questions
Some scholars suggest that the quest to alter consciousness represents a basic 
human desire (Siegel, 1989). Whether or not we accept such an extreme view, varia-
tions in states of consciousness clearly share some basic characteristics across a vari-
ety of cultures. One is an alteration in thinking, which may become shallow, illogical, 
or otherwise different from normal. In addition, people’s sense of time can become 
disturbed, and their perceptions of the physical world and of themselves may change. 
They may lose self-control, doing things that they would never otherwise do. Finally, 
they may feel a sense of ineffability —the inability to understand an experience ratio-
nally or describe it in words (Finkler, 2004; Martindale, 1981; Travis, 2006). 
Of course, realizing that efforts to produce altered states of consciousness are 
widespread throughout the world’s societies does not answer a fundamental question: 
Is the experience of unaltered states of consciousness similar across different cultures? 
Because humans share basic biological commonalties in the ways their brains and 
bodies are wired, we might assume that the fundamental experience of consciousness 
is similar across cultures. As a result, we could suppose that consciousness shows some 
basic similarities across cultures. However, the ways in which certain aspects of con-
sciousness are interpreted and viewed show substantial differences from culture to cul-
ture. For example, people in disparate cultures view the experience of the passage of 
time in varying ways. For instance, Arabs appear to perceive the passage of time more 
slowly than North Americans (Alon & Brett, 2007; Haynes, Nixon, & West, 2007).