Is Consciousness An Experience or An Attitude?

For thousands of years, philosophers dominated the study of human consciousness. Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, pioneered the concept of mind-body dualism, or the idea that, while the mind and body are distinct, they do interact.

Once psychology was established as a distinct discipline from philosophy and biology, one of the first topics studied by early psychologists was conscious experience.

Structuralists analysed and reported conscious sensations, thoughts, and experiences through a process known as introspection. Trained observers would examine the contents of their own minds with care. While this was obviously a highly subjective process, it served as a catalyst for further research into the scientific study of consciousness.

Consciousness, according to American psychologist William James, is like a stream—unbroken and continuous despite the constant transformations. Sigmund Freud, a psychoanalyst, emphasised the importance of the unconscious and conscious minds.

While much of psychology research shifted away from observable behaviours in the first half of the twentieth century, research on human consciousness has exploded in popularity since the 1950s.