Encyclopedia > The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

  Article Content

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

The 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, by psychologist Julian Jaynes proposed that until the beginnings of historic times schizophrenia or a closely similar condition was the normal human mental state. A "bicameral mind" in which a normal state of low affect suitable for routine activities would be interrupted in moments of crisis by "mysterious voices" giving instructions, which early people characterized as interventions from the gods. This theory was widely discussed for a short time but continued work has not provided additional support for the idea.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Northwest Harbor, New York

... the town the population is spread out with 25.2% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who are 65 years of ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 406.9 ms