A provocative look at the unconscious mind that challenges contemporary perceptions and exposes the indefensible science that fostered them.
How much of a role does the unconscious play in our decision making? In Open Minded: Searching for Truth about the Unconscious Mind, authors Ben R. Newell and David R. Shanks would argue: not very much. Behavioral science and public discourse have placed an outsized emphasis on the unconscious mind when it comes to understanding human behavior. Pursuing trails of fraud, intrigue, and claims about the power of unconscious thought, Newell and Shanks scrutinize the science that has contributed to our conventional wisdom and offer an important counterpoint to the ever-stronger traction that the unconscious mind has gained in public debate, such as the now ubiquitous claim that unconscious bias plays a large role in people's decisions and behavior.
Open Minded is divided into two sections: the first examines the modern understanding of the conscious mind, and the second shifts the focus to how to reform current research. Focusing on the core processes of decision making, Newell and Shanks cut through many questionable claims about unconscious behavior. Then, they delve into the nuts-and-bolts of methodology, challenging not only psychology and the behavioral sciences but also medicine and science more broadly. In this against-the-grain approach, Newell and Shanks chart new possibilities for how we may be more open to understanding how our minds actually work.
Author(s): Ben R. Newell.
Edition: 1
Publisher: The MIT Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Commentary: Publisher PDF
Pages: 234
City: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Tags: Cognition; Subconsciousness; Thought; Thinking; Self-Consciousness; Awareness
Contents
Preface
Part I. The Search for the Unconscious Mind
1. Reclaiming the Science of the Mind
What Is Consciousness?
The Unconsciousness of Mental States
Consciousness and the Brain
2. Moving, Deciding, and Free Will
Simple Actions and Brain Precursors of Decision Making
Conscious Will as an Illusion
Perceptual-Motor Skills
The Curious Case of D.F.
Blindsight
Valid Assessments of Awareness
3. The Ripples of Activation
Priming Thoughts and Behavior?
Pebbles or Boulders?
Walking Slowly
Smiling through Your Teeth
A Mirage of Ripples
4. The Leaking of Information
10 Percent Fat or 90 Percent Fat Free?
Half-Full or Half-Empty?
Are We Aware of Leaked Information?
Nudged or Inferred?
Anchoring as Information Leakage
Causal Field Perspective
A Leak or a Bias?
5. Rethinking Unconscious Bias
A Kernel of Truth?
Unconscious Associations
Is Unconscious Bias Unconscious?
6. Think, Blink, or Sleep On It?
Can Too Much Thinking Be a Bad Thing?
Can NOT Thinking Be Better Than Thinking?
Blink, Don’t Think?
Is Intuition Unconscious?
7. One, Two, or More? System(s) of Thinking
Belief Bias?
Observation and Inference
Latent States and the Implausibility of Dual Systems
Stroop: A Paradigmatic Automatic Effect?
Pragmatism versus Accuracy
Part II. Toward a True Understanding of Mind and Behavior
8. Feeling the Future; Precipitating a Crisis
Anatomy of a Train Wreck
Time-Traveling Porn
9. Research Biases
The Telltale Signs of Publication Bias
Researcher Degrees of Freedom
Analyses in the Multiverse
10. Research Reformed
Replication and Registration
The Power of Myths
The Scientific Ecosystem
11. The Mind Reclaimed?
Promoting Social Distancing
The Validation Crisis
Theory Building and Severe Tests
Opening Our Science and Minds
Notes
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Index
