Unconscious thought theory

Unconscious thought theory (UTT) posits that the unconscious mind is capable of performing tasks outside of one's awareness, and that unconscious thought (UT) is better at solving complex tasks, where many variables are considered, than conscious thought (CT), but is outperformed by conscious thought in tasks with fewer variables. It was proposed by Ap Dijksterhuis and Loran Nordgren in 2006.When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters however ... the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves.There exists no reliable support for the claim that a momentary diversion of thought leads to better decision making than a period of deliberation. Unconscious thought theory (UTT) posits that the unconscious mind is capable of performing tasks outside of one's awareness, and that unconscious thought (UT) is better at solving complex tasks, where many variables are considered, than conscious thought (CT), but is outperformed by conscious thought in tasks with fewer variables. It was proposed by Ap Dijksterhuis and Loran Nordgren in 2006. The theory is based primarily on findings from comparing subjects presented with a complex decision (for instance which of several apartments is the best?), and allowed either (1). very little time, (2). ample time, or (3), ample time but are distracted and thereby prevented from devoting conscious attentional resources to it. It is claimed that subjects unable to devote conscious processing to the task outperform both those who can spend time deliberating and those who must respond immediately. Dijksterhuis and Nordgren interpreted these findings as strong support for the idea of UT being superior to CT, and used them in part to justify six principles distinguishing UT from CT. This position runs counter to most research on unconscious processing conducted over the last 40 years, which has found unconscious processes to be characterized by simple responses, and to be incapable of complex operations. Unconscious Thought Theory has come under stiff criticism from researchers unable to replicate the original effects. Unconscious thought theory runs counter to about the past 12 years of mainstream research on unconscious cognition (see for a review). Many of the attributes of unconscious thought according to UTT are drawn from research by George Miller and Guy Claxton on cognitive and social psychology, as well as from folk psychology; together these portray a formidable unconscious, possessing some abilities far beyond those of conscious thought. UTT is in this respect reminiscent of some classical views of the unconscious that emerged as far back as the early twentieth century. Both UTT and Freudian psychoanalytic theory hold that complex operations are performed by the unconscious, but where Freud's theory suggests that the unconscious represses harmful memories to protect one's ego, UTT's version of UT performs rational operations to complete unsolved cognitive or affective tasks. Helmholtz's theory of unconscious inference also shares UTT's view that the unconscious' reasoning mediates our interpretation of the world, but UTT differs from unconscious inference by its clear assertion that unconscious thought is a time-consuming process; Helmholtz's famous use of perception as an example of unconscious inference suggests that unconscious thought, for him, operates much more quickly. Probably the most striking contrast UTT has with today's understanding of the unconscious is that between its main claim and studies on implicit perception. Researchers like Anthony Greenwald have used subliminal semantic activation tasks to evaluate unconscious thought by presenting words very quickly to prevent them from entering conscious thought. The unconscious' inability to process more than one word at a time has led these researchers to conclude that unconscious thought is unsophisticated. But UTT holds that unconscious thought is very sophisticated, enjoying benefits like freedom from bias and the ability to integrate disparate pieces of information more efficiently than conscious thought. Conscious thought is considered to lead to good choices. However, because of its low capacity to process multiple factors, it actually leads to worse choices on issues that are more complex. On the other hand, unconscious thought, deliberation without attention, is often considered to lead to poor choices. However, with unconscious thought, the quality of choice does not deteriorate with increased complexity, but will remain the same. Therefore, unconscious thought actually leads to better choices when encountering complex issues. For example, when buying a car based on few characteristics, individuals using conscious thought will most likely choose the most desirable car. But when trying to choose a car based on multiple aspects, those who use unconscious decisions are more likely to pick the best car, as well as have more post-choice satisfaction.This is the basis for the deliberation-without-attention hypothesis: that quality of choice depends on the relation between mode of thought (conscious or unconscious) and the complexity of the choice. Researchers Ap Dijksterhuis, Maarten W. Bos, Loran F. Nordgren, and Rick B. van Baaren tested this hypothesis in a series of studies measuring choice quality and post-choice satisfaction after participants used conscious and unconscious deliberation. The studies supported the deliberation-without-attention effect: conscious thinkers were better able to make normatively more desirable choices between simple products, but unconscious thinkers were better able to choose between complex products. Furthermore, after making a complex decision, conscious thinkers were less likely to be satisfied with their choice than unconscious thinkers. In light of the difference in capacity between CT and UT, Dijksterhuis used a series of five experiments to test two hypotheses about the decision-making process of unconscious thought. The first hypothesis was that in complex decision making, being able to use UT will lead to better decisions than when one makes decisions immediately and is unable to use UT; the second was that when making complex decisions, users of only UT will outperform users of a combination of UT and CT.