Understanding Conscious vs. Unconscious Behavior

As humans, our tendency to believe in consciously motivated behavior is so powerful that we read consciousness into not only our own behaviors but those of the animal kingdom as well. We do this with our pets, of course. It’s called anthropomorphizing.

We humans also perform many automatic, unconscious behaviors. We tend to be unaware of them, however, because the interplay between our conscious and our unconscious minds is so complex. This complexity has its roots in the physiology of our brains. As mammals, we have new layers of cortex built upon the base of our more primitive reptilian brains; and as humans, we have yet more cerebral matter built upon those. We have an unconscious mind and, superimposed upon it, a conscious brain. How much of our feelings, judgments, and behavior is due to each can be very hard to say, as we are constantly shifting back and forth between them.

For example, one morning we mean to stop at the post office on the way to work, but at the key intersection, we turn right, toward the office, because we are running on autopilot-that is, acting unconsciously. Then, when trying to explain to the police officer the reason for our subsequent illegal U-turn, our conscious mind calculates the optimal excuse, while our autopilot unconscious handles the proper use of gerunds, subjunctive verbs, and indefinite articles so that our plea is expressed in fine grammatical form. If asked to step out of the car, we will consciously obey, then instinctively stand about four feet from the officer, although when talking to friends we automatically adjust that separation to about two and a half feet. (Most of us follow these unspoken rules of interpersonal distance without ever thinking about them and can’t help feeling uncomfortable when they are violated.)

Once attention is called to them, it is easy to accept many of our simple behaviors (like making that right turn) as being automatic. The real issue is the extent to which more complex and substantive behaviors, with the potential to have a much greater impact on our lives, are also automatic-even though we may feel sure that they are carefully thought through and totally rational. How does our unconscious affect our attitude about questions like Which house should I buy?

HUMAN BEHAVIOR Is the product of an endless stream of perceptions, feelings, and thoughts, at both the conscious and the unconscious levels.

The idea that we are not aware of the cause of much of our behavior can be difficult to accept.

There are inherent dangers in what is called data mining, the wholesale sifting through data in the hope of discovering previously unrecognized patterns. According to the laws of chance, if you look around enough, you are bound to find something interesting. That “something interesting” may be an artifact of randomness or a real trend, and telling the difference between the two can require considerable expertise. The fool’s gold in data mining is the statistical correlation that appears surprising and profound, even though it is meaningless. In the case of the sunshine study, if the connection between stock price and weather were a coincidence, one would probably find no such correlation in the data regarding stock markets in other cities.

According to a textbook on human physiology, the human sensory system sends the brain about eleven million bits of information each second?

However, anyone who has ever taken care of a few children who are all trying to talk to you at once can testify that your conscious mind cannot process anywhere near that amount. The actual amount of information we can handle has been estimated to be somewhere between sixteen and fifty bits per second. So if your conscious mind were left to process all that incoming information, your brain would freeze like an overtaxed computer. Also, though we don’t realize it, we are making many decisions each second. Should I spit out my mouthful of food because I detect a strange odor?

One sign that there is a lot of activity going on in our brains of which we are not aware comes from a simple analysis of energy consumption.” Imagine yourself sprawled on the couch watching television; you are subject to few demands on your body. Then imagine yourself doing something physically demanding-say, racing down a street. When you run fast, the energy consumption in your muscles is multiplied by a factor of one hundred compared to the energy you use as a couch potato. That’s because, despite what you might tell your significant other, your body is working a lot harder— one hundred times so-when you’re running than when you’re stretched out on the sofa.

Let’s contrast this energy multiplier with the multiplier that is applicable when you compare two forms of mental activity: vegging out, in which your conscious mind is basically idle, and playing chess. Assuming that you are a good player with an excellent knowledge of all the possible moves and strategies and are concentrating deeply, does all that conscious thought tax your conscious mind to the same degree that running taxed your muscles? No. Not remotely. Deep concentration causes the energy consumption in your brain to go up by only about 1 per-cent.

No matter what you are doing with your conscious mind, it is your unconscious that dominates your mental activity-and therefore uses up most of the energy consumed by the brain. Regardless of whether your conscious mind is idle or engaged, your unconscious mind is hard at work doing the mental equivalent of push-ups, squats, and wind sprints.

Source : Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow

Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13058637-subliminal