Final answer:
Heather's daydreaming during class represents an Altered State of Consciousness, where she is awake but not fully engaged with her external environment, focused instead on her own private thoughts.
Step-by-step explanation:
When Heather is daydreaming about the spaghetti dinner during her chemistry class, her mental state is best described as an Altered State of Consciousness. Daydreaming is a common phenomenon where an individual is awake but not fully focused on the external surroundings, drifting off into their thoughts or imaginations. This state lies between being fully alert and asleep, displaying a lower level of consciousness than when one is actively focusing on a task or interaction.
Daydreaming does not qualify as hypnosis because it lacks the external suggestion and focused attention required to induce this state. Furthermore, it is not meditation, as meditation involves a deliberate and structured practice of focusing one's attention, often with the goal of achieving a state of greater calmness or awareness. And lastly, Heather is not simply in a state of wakefulness; this term is used to describe someone who is fully alert and engaged with their environment, which does not apply to her at the moment because she is caught up in her own thoughts about dinner.