The Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section was formed in 1997 as the first network of a nationally representative body of professional psychologists devoted to the study of Consciousness in the modern era.
Events
2021
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How to Understand the Causal Interactions between Consciousness and the Brain
Show contentHow to Understand the Causal Interactions between Consciousness and the Brain
Date 29 April 2021 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
In everyday life we take it for granted that we have conscious control of some of our actions and that the part of us that exercises conscious control is the conscious mind. Psychosomatic medicine also assumes that the conscious mind can affect body states, and this is supported by evidence that the use of imagery, hypnosis, biofeedback and other ‘mental interventions’ can be therapeutic in a variety if conditions. However, there is no accepted theory of mind/body interaction and this has had a detrimental effect on the acceptance of mental causation in science, philosophy and in many areas of clinical practice. Biomedical accounts typically translate the effects of mind into the effects of brain functioning, for example, explaining mind/body interactions in terms of the interconnections and reciprocal control of cortical, neuroendocrine, autonomic and immune systems.
While such accounts are instructive, they are implicitly reductionist, and beg the question of how conscious experience could have bodily effects. On the other hand, non-reductionist accounts have to cope with three problems:
1) The physical world appears causally closed, which would seem to leave no room for conscious control.
2) One is not conscious of one’s own body processing, so how could there be conscious control of such processing?
3) Conscious experiences appear to come too late to causally effect the processes to which they most obviously relate.
This talk suggests a dual-aspect, monist solution to these problems in which conscious experiences and associated brain states are thought of as complementary first- and third-person ways of knowing the operations of a fundamentally psychophysical mind.
Learning outcomes
Participants in this webinar will gain an understanding of -
a) the problems of understanding the causal interactions of consciousness and brain,
b) the problems of standard dualist and materialist-reductionist solutions to these problems,
c) a deeper, dual-aspect monist understanding of mind and self that resolves these problems. The use of psychological vs physical interactions in therapeutic situations will also be clarified.
Speaker
Max Velmans, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, has been involved in consciousness studies for over 40 years. His pioneering integrative work on the philosophy, cognitive psychology and neuropsychology of consciousness has led to over 130 publications (see Research Gate and Academia.edu) and over 150 national and international invited lectures on this topic. His widely praised book Understanding Consciousness (2000) was short-listed for the British Psychological Society book award in 2001 and 2002, and is now in its second (2009) edition. Other books include How Could Consciousness Experiences Affect Brains? (2003), the co-edited Blackwell Companion to Consciousness (2007, 2017), Towards a Deeper Understanding of Consciousness (2017), and the four-volume collection Consciousness (Critical Concepts in Psychology) (2018). He was a co-founder and, from 2004-2006 , Chair of the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section, and was an Indian Council of Philosophical Research National Visiting Professor for 2010-2011.
Previous Events
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2020
Show content04 December - Consciousness and Experiential AGM
The Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section AGM 2020 will be held on Friday 4 December 2020 at 3.30pm via Zoom.
Members who are opted in to receive emails from the BPS will have received details on joining this meeting, but due to the challenges posed by Covid-19 we have been unable to notify other members by post.
If you have any queries regarding the AGM, nominations or resolutions please email Member Network Services.
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2019
Show contentApplying Phenomenology in Experiential Research
22 March 2019
Psychogenesis: The Effect of Mind on Body, Brain & Experience
13-15 September 2019
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2018
Show contentExceptional Experiences: CEP 20th Annual Conference
6-8 September 2018
Mind Wandering and Mindfulness
22 June 2018
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2017
Show contentSocial Robotics and Human Experience Workshop
11 April 2017