Subconscious
The subconscious mind is a significant aspect of human cognition that operates below the level of conscious awareness, influencing thoughts and actions without direct knowledge. It serves as a repository for memories, past experiences, and automatic functions, accounting for a substantial portion of mental processes. Unlike the conscious mind, which encompasses thoughts and actions of which a person is fully aware, the subconscious can be accessed with focused thought, allowing individuals to reflect on learned behaviors, such as walking or driving. The concept of the subconscious was notably advanced by Sigmund Freud, who described it as a preconscious mind, while Pierre Janet introduced the term itself. Additionally, beyond the subconscious lies the unconscious mind, which contains repressed memories and instincts that are typically inaccessible to conscious thought.
Recent research suggests that the subconscious can significantly shape behavior, often acting prior to conscious awareness. Studies have demonstrated that subtle cues can activate emotions or associations that influence decision-making without individuals realizing it. For example, experiments have shown how environmental factors, such as temperature, can unconsciously affect perceptions and judgments. Overall, understanding the subconscious reveals the complex interplay of conscious and subconscious processes in shaping human behavior and decision-making.
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Subconscious
The subconscious is a part of the mind that a person is not fully aware of but that influences the person's actions. In the subconscious mind are memories, past experiences, and automatic functions such as breathing. The conscious mind, on the other hand, refers to all thoughts and actions a person is aware of. People can become aware of what is in their subconscious if they think about it. For example, while breathing is automatic, a person can choose to control his or her breathing by concentrating on it. Experiences stored in the unconscious, another level of the mind, cannot be retrieved. The Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud may have been the first to introduce the idea that the mind has three levels: the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind. Modern brain imaging seems to support Freud's theory.
Background
Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist best known for his theory of psychoanalysis, may have been the first to theorize that the human mind has different levels, one of which is the subconscious. However, Freud called this level the preconscious. The term subconscious was coined by Pierre Janet, a French psychologist who studied human memory.
According to Freud, the human mind consists of the conscious mind, the preconscious mind, and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind refers to whatever is in a person's awareness—what he or she says, thinks, and does. Freud theorized that because it does not store information, the conscious mind accounts for only about 10 percent of the brain's capacity.
The preconscious or subconscious mind is a storage area for all memories, past experiences, and automatic functions such as walking. Information stored in the subconscious mind can be retrieved. For example, suppose a woman walks to the door whenever the doorbell rings. The woman does not think about her steps because they are automatic. However, suppose she wants to see whether she can reach the door in only five steps. Now she becomes aware of how her legs and feet move when she walks. According to Freud, the subconscious mind accounts for 50–60 percent of the brain's capacity.
Freud believed that the unconscious mind stores all the information that people have forgotten, such as the first word they spoke as a child. The unconscious mind also contains memories that have been repressed because of trauma and biological instincts for sex and aggression. People cannot retrieve information stored in the unconscious. Freud believed that the unconscious mind accounts for 30–40 percent of the brain's activity.
Overview
The three levels of the mind—the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious—serve different purposes. Perhaps the best way to understand the workings of the subconscious and conscious minds is to use the commonly cited example of driving a car. When people learn to drive, they are conscious of their every action—they are aware of when they step on the brake and gas pedals or turn the steering wheel. In time, though, their actions become automatic, and they no longer think about them. Their driving is controlled by their subconscious mind. This allows their conscious mind to focus on other tasks, such as talking on the phone or listening to music. However, people can focus on their driving if they choose to do so. They can pay close attention to their actions. When they do this, the automatic task of driving is moved once again to the conscious mind.
People cannot access information stored in the unconscious mind, however. Everything they think they have forgotten is stored in this level of the mind, along with primordial responses. Many early childhood experiences are stored in the unconscious mind. Some psychologists claim that they can access a person's unconscious mind using hypnosis, but others are not sure this is true.
Research in the 2000s has indicated that the subconscious has a much greater influence on behavior than previously thought. In 2004, psychologists at Stanford University conducted an experiment in which they had students play a one-on-one investment game with an unseen person. When they played the game, each student sat at a long table, but only half sat at the table when a leather briefcase and portfolio were placed at the opposite end. The students who sat at the table when the briefcase and portfolio were on it made better investments than the other students. The psychologists theorized that the briefcase and portfolio generated business-like associations in the students' subconscious, causing them to take the game seriously.
Another study in 2008 at Yale University yielded similar findings. College students who were unaware that they were participating in an experiment were bumped into by a laboratory assistant holding textbooks, a clipboard, papers, and a cup of either hot or iced coffee. The lab assistant asked the student to help by holding the cup of coffee. Later, the participants in the study were asked to rate a person they had just read about. Those who held the iced coffee rated the person as being colder and more selfish than those who held the hot coffee. The temperature of the coffee seemed to activate corresponding emotions in the subconscious that influenced the conscious.
Other studies indicated that the subconscious helps the conscious make decisions up to ten seconds before a person realizes it. In 2014, psychologists imaged the brains of fourteen volunteers as they performed decision-making tasks. They asked the volunteers to press one of two buttons whenever they felt the urge to do so. At the same time, letters streamed across a screen at half-second intervals. The volunteers had to remember what letter was on the screen when they pushed a button. The signals recorded in their brain started about seven seconds before the volunteers reported making the decision. From the study, the psychologists theorized that important real-life decisions—such as buying a house or taking a job—are made by the brain before a person thinks he or she has made the decision.
Bibliography
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