Preface
While I was reading “The Shallow”: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, one paper was mentioned. As it suggests that unconscious thoughts offer better decision on complex problem, I am curious about it. Here is my study note of the paper, “Think Different: The Merits of Unconscious Thought in Preference Development and Decision Making”.
Conclusion: unconscious is good at making complex decisions.
- The problem is that it feels wrong to make such an important decision so quickly.
- Both conscious and unconscious systems can be very fast, slow, smart, or stupid. It all depends on what they are asked to do.
- One needs enough processing capacity to deal with large amount of information, and one needs skills sophisticated enough to integrate information in a meaningful and accurate way.
Processing Capacity
- Maximum amount of information thatch be kept under conscious scrutiny at any given time is about seven units (4060 bits per second), which is low.
- The capacity of the entire human system is about 11,200,000 bits (including visual system, etc).
- More elaborate, normative strategies only work well when all information is taken into account.
The Skills to Think
- That is the integration of information in a meaningful way.
- Consciousness may suffer from a power cut when too much pressure is put on its limited capacity, but as long as its capacity is enough to deal with a particular problem, it is likely to be a good thinker.
- Researchers have long recognized the importance of incubation, the process whereby a problem is consciously ignored for a while, after which the unconscious offers a solution.
- We put things to rest for a while and then suddenly, “Bing,” we feel we know it.
- Not thinking about a problem for a while may lead people to forget wrong heuristics or inappropriate strategies in general.
- Successive guesses converged, and the unconscious seemed to be closing in on the right answer quite a while before the answer was accessible to consciousness.
Experiment
- A brief period of unconscious thought will lead to a better decision relative conditions under which unconscious thought is prevented.
- When making complex decisions, conscious thought is inferior relative to unconscious thought.
- Experiment 13: proofing that unconscious thinking provides better decision in some cases; experiment 45: testing the reason behind
Polarization Hypothesis
- Distraction can lead to the change of a “mental set”, so, the role of the unconscious is proposed to be passive: putting a problem aside for a while allows for a fresh, unbiased new start.
- Look into different options.
Clustering Hypothesis
- Unconscious thought is expected to turn an initial, disorganized set of information into a clearer and more integrated representation of information in memory.
