I Am Conscious, Therefore, I Am: Imagery, Affect, Action, and a General Theory of Behavior

Abstract

Organisms are adapted to each other and the environment because there is an inbuilt striving toward security, stability, and equilibrium. A General Theory of Behavior connects imagery, affect, and action with the central executive system we call consciousness, a direct emergent property of cerebral activity. The General Theory is founded on the assumption that the primary motivation of all of consciousness and intentional behavior is psychological homeostasis. Psychological homeostasis is as important to the organization of mind and behavior as physiological homeostasis is to the organization of bodily systems. Consciousness processes quasi-perceptual images independently of the input to the retina and sensorium. Consciousness is the “I am” control center for integration and regulation of (my) thoughts, (my) feelings, and (my) actions with (my) conscious mental imagery as foundation stones. The fundamental, universal conscious desire for psychological homeostasis benefits from the degree of vividness of inner imagery. Imagery vividness, a combination of clarity and liveliness, is beneficial to imagining, remembering, thinking, predicting, planning, and acting. Assessment of vividness using introspective report is validated by objective means such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A significant body of work shows that vividness of visual imagery is determined by the similarity of neural responses in imagery to those occurring in perception of actual objects and performance of activities. I am conscious; therefore, I am.

“God Spoke to Me”: Subjective Paranormal Experience and the Homeostatic Response to Early Trauma

“…Twelve hypotheses are supported by empirical evidence while several untested hypotheses require further study. The Homeostasis Theory of SPE is consistent with a General Theory of Behaviour (Marks, 2018(Marks, , 2019b(Marks, , 2020b in providing a coherent account of the published literature of Psychology. New prospectively controlled research is required with a large sample of children to enable rigorous testing of the theoretical hypotheses together with alternative hypotheses about the origins of SPE.…”

“…FP requires the generation of mental imagery, those quasi-perceptual experiences that occur in the absence of an objective stimulus. It is established that there are wide individual differences in the continuum of reported vividness and controllability of images (Marks, 2019b). Individuals at the fantasy prone end of the normal distribution (1-5%) experience vivid, uncontrollable images of almost hallucinatory quality (Marks & McKellar, 1982) which seem as real as actual events (Wilson & Barber, 1983).…”

“…Everybody daydreams, but some people daydream much more than others. Fantasy, daydreams, and imagination are integral processes within healthy functioning, playing an adaptational role in daily life (Klinger, 1990; Marks, 2019b; Singer, 1975). Fantasy and daydreams reflect our current concerns, regulate mood, organize experience, provide self-relevant information, facilitate learning, and stimulate decision making (Rauschenberger & Lynn, 1995).…”

“…Homeostasis performs a restorative function with its ability to deploy the entire resources of the psychological system, including affect, fantasy, and the approach-avoidance-inhibition system to reset the imbalances created by dissociation. The reset restores feelings of safety and of being in control (Marks, 2018, 2019b). That homeostasis has a stabilising role is consistent with the theory of Silvan Tomkins (1962) who proposed that the primary motivational system is the affective system and biological drives have impact only when amplified by the affective system .…”

Vividness, Consciousness and Mental Imagery: A Start on Connecting the Dots

“…Probably one of the most influential figures in vividness research, David Marks [9] took a renewed look at the systematization of the field spanning over at least four decades of work. He presented a general theory, synthesizing the reciprocal interconnections within a dynamic system involving imagery, affect, and action and consciousness as the central executive.…”