Bicameral mind

The concept, popularized by Julian James (1976), that mind consists of two chambers, one in which desirable motivations are inspired by the gods, and a second chamber in which more mundane thoughts are produced by the person. James maintained that ancient peoples could not "think" as we do today and were therefore "unconscious, " a result of the domination of the right hemisphere; only catastrophe forced mankind to "learn" consciousness, a product of human history and culture and one that issues from the brain's left hemisphere. He described three forms of human awareness: the bicameral or god-run man; the modern or problem-solving man; and contemporary forms of throwbacks to bicamerality (e.g., religious frenzy, hypnotism, and schizophrenia).