Altered States of ConsciousnessAmanita muscaria is a mushroom species traditionally used in shamanic activities by indigenous Siberian and Baltic cultures such as the Saami of Finland and the Koryaks of Eastern Siberia. Shamans used it as an alternative method of achieving a trance state. In most cases, however, Siberian shamans achieve trance by prolonged drumming and dancing.What are altered states of consciousness?We are all aware that our dreams may contain very different kinds of thoughts than those that we have while awake. However, there are also wakeful situations in which we can experience an altered state of consciousness (ASC)— these include hallucination, hypnotic states, trance states and meditation. In contemporary North American culture, these wakeful ASCs are thought of either as unusual events or pertaining to practices of specialists—hypnotic states induced by therapists or magicians, trances entered into by mediums conducting séances, meditation in yoga classes, or drug-induced hallucinatory experiences. The idea that bodies might be possessed by demons, witches, or spirits also exists as a popular theme in media and in some religious traditions. However, contemporary mainstream North American culture does not embrace these practices in rituals, healing practices, or as part of ordinary life. In other words, ASCs are not institutionalized (Winkelman 1986). Show
Altered States of Consciousness in Human History: A Brief OverviewASCs have likely been part of the human cognitive repertoire for at least 100,000 years, if not longer. Entoptically-suggestive art (that is, art composed of motifs indicating sensory deprivation and commonly-associated forms of visual hallucination) can be seen as early as 70,000-100,000 years ago at Blombos Cave in South Africa (Henshilwood et al. 2002). Archaeological evidence for institutionalized ASCs has been found in human societies across the globe and throughout human history. Examples of ASCs in the Archaeological Record
These examples represent only a small fraction of the historical and archaeological evidence for institutionalized ASCs. As the scope of archaeological evidence is limited by materiality, these pharmacologically-oriented examples represent only a few of the ways that humans engage in wakeful ASCs. Remains of hallucination-inducing substances can be recovered archaeologically or sometimes substantiated through historical texts while other methods of inducing ASCs are difficult if not impossible to capture. Nevertheless, the ubiquity of these practices across time and space in human history suggests that ASCs play a fundamental role in the maintenance of human social fabric and human social-spiritual linkage. Additional examples of the archaeology of altered states can be found among the eHRAF databases. What are trances?Trance behaviors are difficult to define, but most observers seem to be able to tell when a person is in a trance. Aside from altered and often internally-oriented states of thinking, there seem to be changes in emotional expression, changes in body image, feelings of rejuvenation, and increased suggestibility. There is evidence for shared physiological processes during different forms of trance as well as other ASCs (Winkelman 1986). Trance states involve both amplification of certain internal cognitive processes as well as a decoupling of sensory processing (Hove et al. 2015). What about more recent cultures? Are ASCs institutionalized in other cultures?Institutionalized ASCs are extremely widespread in the cultures known to anthropology, suggesting that not only are wakeful ASCs part of the repertoire of human experience, but that they are also usually incorporated into cultural beliefs and practices. In one cross-cultural survey of 488 societies, 90% had some kind of cultural trance behavior or belief (Bourguignon 1968; Bourguignon and Evascu 1977). Valentin Hagdaev – head shaman of Olkhon. Lake Baikal. Buryatia, Siberia.Types of Institutionalized TrancesTwo kinds of institutionalized trance are usually distinguished: 1) a type of trance in which the person’s soul is believed to leave the body because it is abducted or goes on a journey; and 2) possession trance, in which the change in a person’s behavior and utterances during the trance are explained by being possessed or taken over by a spirit of some kind. Some societies have only the first type which we will call non-possession trance, others have only possession trance, and some have both. Note that there can be possession beliefs without trance behavior, such as when illnesses are believed to be caused by invading spirits (Bourguignon 1976; Bourguignon and Evascu 1977).
Trance and HealingIllness and death affect all people, and all societies have developed cultural practices to try to heal the sick. If home remedies do not help, usually people resort to a specialist healer of some kind. In most societies these specialists are magico-religious healers. Even in societies exposed to Western medicine, some people still turn to magico-religious practitioners. Trance and other altered states of consciousness are strongly associated with healing practices of shamans, a subset of magico-religious healers. Among shamans, trances are usually induced by mechanisms such as singing, chanting, drumming, or dancing, after which the shaman in training or practice collapses and becomes unconscious and has intense visual experiences. These experiences presumably induce a state of relaxation that replaces fast brain activity in the front areas of the brain with slow wave activity representing more emotional information (Winkelman 1986; Winkelman 2006)
What Predicts Trance Behavior?
The Vision QuestIn many Native North American societies, individuals reaching puberty sought out a guardian spirit. Guardian spirits were neither ghosts nor culture heroes—they were usually spirits of plants or animals or celestial bodies. Such spirits were sought out by individuals in the hope that they might grant health, strength, the power to cure others, or success in hunting, war, or love. The operative word is “might”: a guardian spirit is not compelled to give gifts of power to a particular person, nor to continue to do so. The guardian does not possess the person nor do the work for them. Rather, the guardian spirit enables the receiver to act independently. A visionary experience or vision quest is usually the method of obtaining a guardian spirit and very often involves prolonged fasting, exhausting exercise, or exposure to dangers. What predicts the guardian spirit complex or vision quest?
Dreaming and Out-of-Body ExperiencesDreaming during sleep is believed to be a universal human characteristic. Even people who do not remember dreaming have been observed to do so in sleep laboratories. Dreaming occurs during REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep. It has also been observed in all studied mammals such as cats, dogs, and monkeys. Just as some societies believe that the soul may leave the body during trance (non-possession trances), there is also a tendency to link “soul flight” to the dream state. Beliefs surrounding out-of-body experience are very widespread; in a cross-cultural survey, such beliefs were found in 95% of analyzed societies. This does not imply that all people in a given society have such an experience, but rather that it is believed that at least some people experience it. 80% of the cultures surveyed believe that dreaming is the primary state in which out-of-body experiences occur (Shields 1978). The content of dreams is also of interest to researchers, but such analyses require a corpus of dreams from many cultures. Comprehensive or large-scale cross-cultural research of dream content remains a challenge (Bourguignon 1972; Shields 1978). How do different cultures experience and interpret dreams?In many human societies, people use dreams to seek and control supernatural power, information or aid. Religious experts often use their dreams to divine or perform cures. Particular dream elements may appear and give the dreamer the right to assume certain culturally-restricted roles. These dreams are often obtained through certain practices such fasting or sleeping alone. Such beliefs and practices are correlated with each other, prompting them to be labeled “using dreams to seek and control supernatural powers.” (D’Andrade 1961)
Exercises Using eHRAF World CulturesExplore some texts and do some comparisons using the eHRAF World Cultures database. These exercises can be done individually or as part of classroom assignments. See the Teaching eHRAF Exercise on Altered States of Consciousness for suggestions. CitationThis summary should be cited as: Ember, Carol R., Christina Carolus. 2017. “Altered States of Consciousness” in C. R. Ember, ed. Explaining Human Culture. Human Relations Area Files https://hraf.yale.edu/ehc/summaries/altered-states-of-consciousness,accessed [give date]. GlossaryMatrilocal A pattern of marital residence where couples typically live with or near the wife’s parents Patrilocal A pattern of marital residence where couples typically live with or near the husband’s parents CreditsThanks to Tahlisa Brougham, Christina Carolus, Jack Dunnington, Megan Farrer, Amelia Piazza, and Erik Ringen for their assistance in preparing this module. Photo CreditsAmanita muscaria, Stewart Meyers; Princeton Shaman, Princeton University Art Museum; Scythian Burial, L. Oleczak / Archaeology News Network; Siberian Shaman, Wikimedia Commons; Sami Shaman, Copperplate by O.H. von Lode after Knud Leem / Wikimedia Commons. ReferencesBarry, Herbert, III, Irvin L. Child, and Margaret K. Bacon. 1959. “Relation of Child Training to Subsistence Economy.” American Anthropologist 61 (1): 51–63. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1959.61.1.02a00080. Bourguignon, Erika. 1968. A Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States. Columbus, Oh.: Research Foundation, Ohio State University. ———. 1972. “Dreams and Altered States of Consciousness in Anthropological Research.” In Psychological Anthropology, edited by Francis L. K. Hsu, 403–34. Cambridge, Ma: Schenkman Publihing Company. ———. 1976. Possession. Chandler & Sharp Series in Cross-Cultural Themes. San Francisco, Ca: Chandler & Sharp Publishers. 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Duller, Norbert Mercier, et al. 2002. “Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa.” Science. Vol. 294. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1067575. Hove, Michael J., Johannes Stelzer, Till Nierhaus, Sabrina D. Thiel, Christopher Gundlach, Daniel S. Margulies, Koene R. A. Van Dijk, Robert Turner, Peter E. Keller, and Björn Merker. 2015. “Brain Network Reconfiguration and Perceptual Decoupling During an Absorptive State of Consciousness.” Cerebral Cortex, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1093/yycercor/bhv137. Kirch, Patrick Vinton. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaii Press. ———. 1988. Niautoputapu: The Prehistory of a Polynesian Chiefdom. Seattle, Wa.: The Burke Museum. Kolata, Alan. 1993. The Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization. Cambridge, Ma.: Blackwell. Lewis-Williams, James D., and Thomas A. Dowson. 1993. “On Vision And Power In The Neolithic: Evidence From The Decorated Monuments.” Current Anthropology 34 (1): 55–65. https://doi.org/10.1086/204136. Rudenko, S. I. (Sergei Ivanovich), and M. W. Thompson. 1970. Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen. Berkeley: University of California Press. http://ehrafarchaeology.yale.edu/document?id=rl60-002. Shaara, Lila, and Andrew Strathern. 1992. “A Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship Between Altered States of Consciousness, Healing, and Social Structure.” American Anthropologist 94 (1): 145–60. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1992.94.1.02a00090. Sharer, Robert J., and Sylvanus Griswold Morley. 1992. The Ancient Maya. Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press. Shields, Dean. 1978. “A Cross-Cultural Study of Out-of-Body Experiences, Waking, and Sleeping.” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 49. Swanson, Guy E. 1973. “The Search for a Guardian Spirit: A Process of Empowerment in Simpler Societies.” Ethnology 12 (3): 359–78. https://doi.org/10.2307/3773123. ———. 1978. “Trance and Possession: Studies of Charismatic Influence.” Review of Religious Research 19 (3): 253–78. https://doi.org/10.2307/3510127. Twohig, Elizabeth Shee. 1981. The Megalithic Art Of Western Europe. 1st ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Watson, Aaron. 2001. “The Sounds Of Transformation: Acoustics, Monuments And Ritual In The British Neolithic.” In The Archaeology Of Shamanism, edited by Neil S. Price, 1st ed., 178–92. London: Routledge. Wesler, Kit W. 2012. An Archaeology Of Religion. 1st ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. ———. 1990. “Shamans And Other ‘Magico-Religious’ Healers: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Their Origins, Nature, And Social Transformations.” Ethos 18 (3): 308–52. https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1990.18.3.02a00040. ———. 2006. “Cross-Cultural Assessments of Shamanism as a Biogenetic Foundation for Religion.” In The Psychology of Religious Experience, edited by Patrick McNamara. Vol. 3. Where God and Science Meet. Westport, Ct.: Prager Publishers. What is the psychological term for the tendency of group members to shift as a result of group discussion toward more extreme positions than those they initially held?By the late 1960s, however, it had become clear that the risky shift was just one type of many attitudes that became more extreme in groups, leading Moscovici and Zavalloni to term the overall phenomenon "group polarization."
What is the cultural mixtures approach?Researchers who adopt a culture mixtures approach focus on new cultural mixtures, contact zones, interconnected systems, and multiple cultural identities. Finally, an integrative approach to cross-cultural psychology emphasizes human activity, which is largely directed by the presence of and access to resources.
What research method refers to the study of systems with multiple interconnected elements?Survey. The term HOLISTIC is used to describe: The study of systems with multiple interconnected elements.
Which statement accurately describes belief perseverance?Which of the following statements most accurately describes the Belief Perseverance Effect? We defend our opinions in spite of arguments that challenge them.
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