decisions made before consciously aware

Started by winkio, October 13, 2012, 09:47:40 pm

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winkio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6S9OidmNZM&t=1m13s

Pretty interesting how much underpowered the conscious thought is compared to underlying brain activity.

G_G

Wow, this is an amazing find winkio. This was definitely interesting, it's amazing that we do that. Six seconds is a pretty long time to predict one's decision. I liked this line:
QuoteHis conscious knows before I consciously know what I'm going to do.


Can something like this be compared to habits do you know? Something as simple as tapping any desk I sit at or tapping my foot whenever I'm sitting down. Or would this be a completely different part of the sub-conscious?

winkio

I have no idea, but that's a good question.  I would imagine that habitual activities might have a shorter time between when they can be predicted and when they actually occur, but that is pure speculation.  Of course, this is only for one person, so this effect might vary from person to person.

R.A.V.S.O

I figured this would go along the lines of subconscious activity...

possibly the more you repeat a habbit the less (or more sometimes) thought you put into it since you might already know what
the outcome would be, hence why some common daily habits go unnoticed and one day it hits you... why WAS I doing this?

probably also your subconcious has a series of actions pre-planned and somewhere along the lines they get changed or lost before you're self-aware of them, kinda like the broken telephone game except nanoseconds faster (Im placing this somewhat crudely but this is how I picture it)
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There is just one aspect of the experiment that sadly diminishes the awesomeness of the results. You have to be aware that he knew that was supposed to make a decision at one point. He was not presented with a choice and immediately had to make a decision (at least not from what I gathered from the video). But this is still big. It means that you basically wait for 6 seconds before you react to something in order for your subconscious to first process what's going on and then make the right decision that's congruent with who you are. Ever had the feeling where somebody asked you something and you had to think before making a decision and then you simply knew? It's possible that this was that process of 6 seconds. I believe that creating habits can reduce that time that is required by your subconscious to process everything. Ever had to make a decision and you knew immediately what to do? I think that this is it.

I am currently reading a book called Psycho-Cybernetics and it mentions not only the concept of how powerful the subconscious can be and how it's basically the one that's in charge, it also mentions the concept of self-image, how we see ourselves. Apparently there are certain constructs of self-images that literally prevent you from acting or reacting in a certain way and that there is nothing you can do about it. But as the other guy in the video said, our subconscious is just another aspect of our brain, it's is not an enemy of the conscious. It means that your subconscious is trying to do its best to ensure the two purposes of life, survival and reproduction. One interesting thing in the book that was mentioned, was that the subconsciousness is a goal-oriented automaton. It works automatically without your conscious input or influence. Of course you can "reprogram" that automaton over time with repetition and learning. That is why humans change relatively slowly on a global scale. e.g. If you're timid and shy, you can't just suddenly become an extrovert. Even acting like it won't get you anywhere in the long run. As the other guy already mentioned, the subconsciousness acts based on your inner beliefs. If you want to truly change who you are, you have to change your beliefs and something like this can only come from experience. Have you ever had a moment where you heard something that made sense and you consciously believed it, but you couldn't deeply and truly understand it until you've actually experienced it? e.g. Let's say somebody tells you how crappy it was to be in a hospital and have surgery. You can understand the underlying emotions of pain and suffering, but until you've been through a similar experience, you can't truly relate to it.

Great find, winkio. :)
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