Consciousness, emotion and cognition - how the mind works: an  (Page 4/4)

The last three quotes about dual-process theories explained that there are unconscious processes that are not controlled - when first learning a skill or a material, conscious direction and metacognitive processes are more necessary, however as it becomes more automatic it becomes more unconscious.

But what does it mean when they say that 'metacognitive processes are are implicit in a variety or circumstances'? What does that mean exactly? I would say that thinking directly about something too much interferes with processing - it is clearly easier and more efficient to do something more unconsciously. However, you aren't necessarily learning as much or you might not understand what is going on as much if you are doing something unconsciously.

How the mind works

Through a discussion of schema and dual-process theories I introduced a little of how the mind thinks. The mind conceives notions of the world and stores these notions or ideas in their mind as schema. The mind also works consciously and unconsciously - from the ideas of dual process theories 'system 1' is the unconscious; which is low effort, large capacity, rapid, automatic, non-verbal and non-logical while 'system 2' - basically the conscious mind - is the opposite.

I guess the question is when exactly is system 1 and system 2 engaged? Are some thoughts strictly 'unconscious' while other thoughts strictly 'conscious' - or can a thought have unconscious components? Similarly, can a performance or action have conscious and unconscious aspects?

Whenever a behavior is more automatic it is then more learned and unconscious because you don't have to think about it as much as when you learned it or are thinking about it in a new way or something. I already mentioned how this is similar to understanding what in psychology is termed 'flow' or in sports is simply termed being in the 'zone'. Conscious thinking and feeling can be difficult or easy - it is probably easier when you are using unconscious processes and influences because then the thinking or feeling is more automatic.

How the mind thinks

Humans minds use schema to store complex sets of information or ideas. In this way understanding of the world can build and change when your current ideas and concepts are challenged by new information. Schema are not likely to change easily, however, as people are biased and more likely to notice things that fit into their currently held ones.

My guess would be that some schema are more unconscious and some are more accessible to consciousness - probably depending on what you were doing recently and if it related to some of the schema you hold. In this way your thinking can be influenced by the ideas that you learned and formed in your mind into schema.

Your unconscious mind holds many preconceived notions ('schema') and uses metaphors and analogies and visions all of the time. Depending on the circumstance different aspects of the world are going to be more accessible to consciousness. In this way the unconscious mind and conscious mind work together to help guide thoughts and feelings - depending on how unconscious a thought or feeling is helps to determine if it is logical, verbal, or easy to process (all of those are aspects of 'system 1' or the unconscious) or not.

Bibliography

Rainer Banse and Roland Imhoff In J. A. Simpson and L. Campbell. The Oxford Handbook of Close Relationships. Oxford University Press.

Sun, R. + Mathews, R. C. (2003). Explicit and Implicit Processes of Metacognition. Advances in Psychology Research. Pp3-18. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, NY