A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load
Unconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis, 2004) states that thinking about a complex problem unconsciously can result in better solutions than conscious deliberation. We take a fresh look at the cognitive processes underlying “unconscious” thought by analyzing data of 822 participants who worked on...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.545928/full |
| _version_ | 1818926059166367744 |
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| author | Lena Steindorf Jan Rummel C. Dennis Boywitt |
| author_facet | Lena Steindorf Jan Rummel C. Dennis Boywitt |
| author_sort | Lena Steindorf |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Unconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis, 2004) states that thinking about a complex problem unconsciously can result in better solutions than conscious deliberation. We take a fresh look at the cognitive processes underlying “unconscious” thought by analyzing data of 822 participants who worked on a complex apartment-evaluation task in three experiments. This task’s information-presentation and evaluation parts were separated by different kinds of filler-interval activities, which corresponded to standard conscious-thought and unconscious-thought manipulations. Employing experience-sampling methods, we obtained thought reports during and after filler-interval engagement. Evidence concerning the existence of the Unconscious Thought Effect was mixed, with such an effect being present in the first two experiments only. In these experiments, we further found less problem deliberation to be associated with better performance on the apartment task. Interestingly, this benefit disappeared when we probed participants’ thoughts during the filler interval. We suggested that explicit thought awareness diminishes the Unconscious Thought Effect. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:51:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-03e5e6602c4f435485db47142099eb73 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:51:06Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-03e5e6602c4f435485db47142099eb732022-12-21T19:56:02ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-06-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.545928545928A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information LoadLena Steindorf0Jan Rummel1C. Dennis Boywitt2Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, GermanyIndependent Researcher, Berlin, GermanyUnconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis, 2004) states that thinking about a complex problem unconsciously can result in better solutions than conscious deliberation. We take a fresh look at the cognitive processes underlying “unconscious” thought by analyzing data of 822 participants who worked on a complex apartment-evaluation task in three experiments. This task’s information-presentation and evaluation parts were separated by different kinds of filler-interval activities, which corresponded to standard conscious-thought and unconscious-thought manipulations. Employing experience-sampling methods, we obtained thought reports during and after filler-interval engagement. Evidence concerning the existence of the Unconscious Thought Effect was mixed, with such an effect being present in the first two experiments only. In these experiments, we further found less problem deliberation to be associated with better performance on the apartment task. Interestingly, this benefit disappeared when we probed participants’ thoughts during the filler interval. We suggested that explicit thought awareness diminishes the Unconscious Thought Effect.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.545928/fullmind wanderingtask-unrelated thoughtUnconscious Thought Effectconsciousnessunconscious thought advantage |
| spellingShingle | Lena Steindorf Jan Rummel C. Dennis Boywitt A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load Frontiers in Psychology mind wandering task-unrelated thought Unconscious Thought Effect consciousness unconscious thought advantage |
| title | A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load |
| title_full | A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load |
| title_fullStr | A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load |
| title_short | A Fresh Look at the Unconscious Thought Effect: Using Mind-Wandering Measures to Investigate Thought Processes in Decision Problems With High Information Load |
| title_sort | fresh look at the unconscious thought effect using mind wandering measures to investigate thought processes in decision problems with high information load |
| topic | mind wandering task-unrelated thought Unconscious Thought Effect consciousness unconscious thought advantage |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.545928/full |
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