Consciousness is the state or condition of being conscious. A sense of one\'s personal or collective identity, especially the complex of attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivities held by or considered characteristic of an individual or a group. There are several different stages of consciousness. Waking consciousness, altered states of consciousness and sleep.
Waking consciousness is the mental state that includes moving and thinking, along with anything else done while we are awake and alert. Behavior during this period is as normal as it can be. Although behavior can differ
from person to person, although most people go through the relatively same behavioral patterns. While awake, people go through feelings of happiness, depression, anger, and boredom, to name a few. These feelings can cause people to do different things and act differently than normal. For instance, happiness, caused by having something give them pleasure in some way, can cause people to smile more or be more kind to other people, like doing other things for people just to be nice, or giving presents and gifts to people. Depression is caused by bad, non-pleasurable things happening to you. While depressed, people may become distanced from their family and friends, not want to interact with other people, and even, in severe cases, hurt themselves and/or others, and even commit suicide. Many things cause anger and aggression also. They can be caused by the interaction with other people like family and peers, but also frustration, hot weather, physical pain, and even noise. While angry people may act overly aggressive, lash out at others, even loved ones, and also commit violent acts. Being bored can also cause people
to act differently. While bored people may do things like act and think hastily and also commit crimes in hopes of satisfying their urge for fun and pleasure. All these feelings have different causes but most include interaction with people, television and different chemical balances and imbalances within the a person’s body.
Another type of consciousness is altered consciousness. There are many

different types of altered consciousness. Daydreaming is one form of this type

of consciousness. Daydreaming is when, due to boredom or mental fatigue, a person enters a dream-like state while awake. While not necessarily bad, daydreaming can be a problem, especially at a time in which it is important to be on full alert, like a security guard, or even a school student . It can cause
a school student to miss something important or not react to a being called
upon by a teacher. Another type of altered consciousness is a drug induced one. Each different type of drug can have a different effect on behavior, depending on the drugs potency and side effects. Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs there are. It’s effects on behavior and personalities are
known by most, whether they abuse it, use it, or neither. Since alcohol is a depressant while being intoxicated, people’s response time, and decision making are effected strongly as the amount of alcohol taken in rises. At a blood-alcohol level of .05%, a person feels good and is a little less alert than normal. At .1%, a person is slow to react and much less cautious. At .15%,
a person’s reaction time is much slower. At .2%, the sensory motor skills
are largely suppressed. At .25%, a person will most likely be staggering and have very bad perception. At .3%, the person is at a semi-stupor. At .35%,
a person is at a level for anesthesia and, depending on tolerance and body weight, could possibly die; And finally at .4% death is likely. People like drinking alcoholic beverages because of the feeling of courage, being care-
free and spontaneous. While drinking, the user may exuberate all of these feelings and act more sexual and aggressive than they normally would. After abusing alcohol for a long period of time a person may become an alcoholic. The behavioral changes can be visible when a person is an alcoholic. The person may become easily irritable, disenfranchised, overly aggressive, and suicidal. The causes of these problems are not only caused by alcohol, but also from alcohol-related health problems including memory loss, decrease in sexual desire, impotence, menstrual problems, liver and kidney damage, cancer, insomnia, and brain damage. There are many other drugs that can cause changes in behavior. With stimulants such as caffeine, cocaine, nicotine, and amphetamines, the user can be more excited, and have insomnia which may cause irritability, paranoia, and dependency. With hallucinogens such as marijuana, LSD, and PCP, behavioral changes include loss of contact with reality, disorientation, and fatigue. Long term effects include physical and mental dependence, insanity for LSD users, and possible death for PCP users.
The last stage of consciousness is sleep. Sleep can be defined as a natural state of rest with reduced body movement and awareness of surroundings. Lack of sleep is very influential in a person’s behavior. A
person who is tired can be less alert , appear uninterested in what people
are discussing, and seem to distance themselves from other people. People
who suffer from the most common sleep disorder, insomnia, have difficulty falling or staying asleep. This can effect their behavior by causing reduced concentration, and slow reaction time while in the waking state of consciousness. Behavioral changes from lack of sleep include, of course, fatigue. When a person is fatigued and tired it may cause them to be drawl, and uninterested irritable, and lash out in fits of psychotic rages. All these behavioral changes can cause a person to lose their job due to lack of motivation towards completing a task, can cause a person to become distanced from their friends, break up with their companions or spouses and act odd in everyday life. Another type of sleeping disorder is narcolepsy. Narcolepsy affects REM sleep and it’s mechanisms. People who are narcoleptic are persistently tired and fatigued and experience loss of muscle tone. This loss of muscle tone can cause brief paralysis of functions and even for a standing person to fall to the ground. This disorder can effect a person’s behavior negatively because of the difficulty in conducting everyday activities with the fear of possibly losing consciousness or falling and getting severely injured. It is also harder to lead a normal sex life because the sudden sleep and loss of muscle tone can cause a person to become embarrassed to be close to someone or a person to be frustrated with their partners disorder.
In conclusion, the three states of consciousness can effect behavior in many different ways, whether it be positive or negative. Behavior is an important part of life although getting enough sleep and avoiding drug abuse can help, there are different things that can also effect people’s behavior in waking consciousness. Relationships with other people like friends and family can make a person have a lot of feelings like anger and happiness, and even television can also effect a person’s behavior by violent show’s making people more aggressive.