Scientific evidence that Unconscious (being thoughtless) makes better decisions

[Guest guest]

Leave big decisions to your unconscious

Study: Brain's hidden talents: Dutch research focuses on consumer

choices

 

Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, February 17, 2006

 

Deciding whether to slap down $40,000 on a new car or $1-million for

a house should be left to your unconscious, according to new

research that suggests the best way to make tough decisions is to

forget about them.

 

Collect the relevant information, it says, then let the unconscious

churn through the options. In the end, it makes for better decisions.

 

" Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not always advantageous to

engage in thorough conscious deliberation before choosing, " says

psychologist Dr. Ap Dijksterhuis and his colleagues at the

University of Amsterdam, who make a case in the journal Science

today for listening to gut feelings and intuition.

 

Their work on " unconscious thought theory " taps into the brain's

hidden -- and many psychologists say unappreciated -- ability to

juggle and weigh complicated situations and options.

 

" In short, consciousness should be used to gather information, the

unconscious to work on it, " Dr. Dijksterhuis says.

 

A similar approach was proposed in Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling

book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, which has made

the author a popular figure on the corporate lecture circuit.

 

The new study focuses on consumer choices, but Dr. Dijksterhuis and

other psychologists say politicians, managers and negotiators would

also be well advised to delegate tricky decisions to the unconscious.

 

" This process of just 'sleeping on it' and 'letting it sit' is not

just procrastination but is a valuable, productive technique that is

drawing on cognitive processes that seem to really exist, " says

psychologist Dr. Jonathan Schooler of the University of British

Columbia, who has done extensive research in the field.

 

" At a minimum, people should include this in their tool kit of

decision-making. "

 

The Dutch studies suggest simple choices like deciding on shampoo,

towels or oven mitts can be safely left to the conscious mind. But

more complex decisions are best left to the unconscious.

 

In one of the experiments, university students were presented with

four hypothetical cars, and a list of 12 attributes for each of

them. Half the students were then immediately given word puzzles to

keep their conscious minds busy. The other half was asked to mull

over the pros and cons for the different cars, one of which had far

more pluses than the others.

 

After four minutes the students were asked to pick the best car.

More than half the students who had been preoccupied with puzzles

made the best choice. But only 25% of the students who actively

considered the choices picked the right car.

 

The researchers say people can only consciously consider and weigh a

limited amount of information. The unconscious mind, they say, can

integrate wider swaths of information, which leads to better and

more satisfying decisions.

 

All of which indicates people shouldn't agonize over and fixate on

choices. The better approach, say the psychologists, is to gather

relevant information and then take a break. The break does not

necessarily have to be long, judging by the car experiments, which

gave the students just a four-minute distraction.

 

" The important recommendation of this work is that there can be real

utility to just letting it percolate and then seeing what comes to

mind, " Dr. Schooler says.

 

If a decision doesn't come, he says the conscious mind probably

needs to gather more information for the unconscious to sift through.

 

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/

© National Post 2006

 

 

, " sahajagreece "

<sahajagreece wrote:

>

> Dear Max,

>

> When you are hypnotised you are hopelessly left into the hands of

> the so-called proffecional. People say things that were never

> meant to be said, and sometimes never come to their senses either.

> Whereas in meditation we remain thoughtless and at the same time

> aware of the surroundings. Also, we can think any time we wish to.

> We are the ones that start the state af thoughtless awareness and

> we are the ones who put an end to it as well, without masters to

> lead us and tell us what to do or think. Apart from that, in the

> state of thiughtles awareness we can fish out any information we

> need from the back of our brain.

>

> Jai Shri Mataji!

>

> michalis

>

>

> , " Max Zorin "

> <kolobos281@> wrote:

> >

> > Hi everyone

> >

> > Can anyone tell me why Sahaja Yoga teaching is so much against

> > hypnosis?

> >

> > Max

> >

>