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Unconscious thought theory (UTT) posits that the unconscious mind is capable of performing tasks outside of one's awareness, and that unconscious thought (UT) is better at solving complex tasks, where many variables are considered, than conscious thought (CT), but is outperformed by conscious thought in tasks with fewer variables. It was proposed by Ap Dijksterhuis〔Dijksterhuis, A. Unconscious Lab: Ap Dijksterhuis (June 6, 2010 ); Available from: The theory is based primarily on findings from comparing subjects presented with a complex decision (for instance which of several apartments is the best?), and allowed either (1). very little time, (2). ample time, or (3), ample time but are distracted and thereby prevented from devoting conscious attentional resources to it. It is claimed that subjects unable to devote conscious processing to the task outperform both those who can spend time deliberating and those who must respond immediately.〔 Dijksterhuis and Nordgren interpreted these findings as strong support for the idea of UT being superior to CT, and used them in part to justify six principles distinguishing UT from CT. This position runs counter to most research on unconscious processing conducted over the last 40 years, which has found unconscious processes to be characterized by simple responses, and to be incapable of complex operations. Unconscious Thought Theory has come under stiff criticism from researchers unable to replicate the original effects 〔Abbot, A, (2015). (Unconscious thought not so smart after all ).〕 〕}} ==What is unconscious thought theory?== Unconscious thought theory runs counter to about the past 30 years of mainstream research on unconscious cognition (see〔 for a review). Many of the attributes of unconscious thought according to UTT are drawn from research by George Miller and Guy Claxton on cognitive and social psychology, as well as from folk psychology; together these portray a formidable unconscious, possessing some abilities far beyond those of conscious thought. UTT is in this respect reminiscent of some classical views of the unconscious that emerged as far back as the early 20th century. Both UTT and Freudian psychoanalytic theory hold that complex operations are performed by the unconscious, but where Freud's theory suggests that the unconscious represses harmful memories to protect one's ego, UTT's version of UT performs rational operations to complete unsolved cognitive or affective tasks. Helmholtz's theory of unconscious inference also shares UTT's view that the unconscious' reasoning mediates our interpretation of the world, but UTT differs from unconscious inference by its clear assertion that unconscious thought is a time-consuming process; Helmholtz's famous use of perception as an example of unconscious inference suggests that unconscious thought, for him, operates much more quickly. Probably the most striking contrast UTT has with today's understanding of the unconscious is that between its main claim and studies on implicit perception.〔Kihlstrom, J.F., Barnhardt, T. M., Tataryn, D. J. Implicit Perception (June 7, 2010 ); Available from: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/Bornstein92.htm〕 Researchers like Anthony Greenwald have used subliminal semantic activation tasks to evaluate unconscious thought by presenting words very quickly to prevent them from entering conscious thought. The unconscious' inability to process more than one word at a time has led these researchers to conclude that unconscious thought is unsophisticated.〔 But UTT holds that unconscious thought is very sophisticated, enjoying benefits like freedom from bias and the ability to integrate disparate pieces of information more efficiently than conscious thought. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Unconscious thought theory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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