/kon"sheuhs nis ray'zing/ , n.
1. Psychol. a group-therapy technique in which the aim is to enhance the participants' awareness of their particular needs and goals as individuals or as a group.
2. any method for increasing interpersonal awareness or sensitivity by teaching people to experience a situation or point of view radically different from their own: The women's group has tried to change macho attitudes through consciousness-raising.
3. an act or instance of increasing the awareness of one's own or another's needs, behavior, attitudes, or problems.
[ 1970-75, Amer. ]