Have you ever wanted to change something in your life, and even though you knew what you needed to do, you couldn’t manage to do it?
Have you ever done something you would later regret? Or couldn’t understand why you did?
Have you ever overreacted, or just reacted emotionally in ways that surprised or confused you?
Most of us have likely experienced one or more of these scenarios. It can be difficult to understand and seem as if you’re being controlled by invisible forces inside you. But based on how the brain works, these scenarios actually aren’t very strange at all…
In this article I will cover some fundamentals of how the brain works that will make these kinds of experiences more understandable. I’ll also cover what it means for your everyday psychology.
Note. The conscious and unconscious processes of the brain that I refer to in this article are the same as the two systems of thinking covered here. I recommend reading both as the two articles complement each other to paint a picture of how the brain operates.
Conscious and unconscious brain processes
To begin this article, I’d like to use an analogy to explain the relationship between the conscious and unconscious processes of the brain and our psychology.
Imagine your brain is like a computer. It is processing incredible amounts of information and makes countless calculations every second, about everything from managing your blood pressure and body temperature to registering and interpreting what your eyes see.
The monitor is your conscious mind. Only what appears on the monitor can you directly observe and be aware of. On the monitor, or in your conscious mind, you can really only focus on one process at a time, but you have conscious control over that process.
Your conscious thoughts can be sorted, modified, put into words, evaluated and communicated to others, and so on. Because what's on the monitor is all you see and can control, it creates an illusion that it is all that you are. Meaning, we tend to feel as if our stream of conscious thoughts is who we are. And our thoughts, emotions and actions that we don’t like, want or understand, feel like invisible forces inside of us that isn’t really us.
That is, however, far from the truth. The human psychology is similar to an iceberg. In the same way that only the peak is visible, only a small portion of what goes on in the brain reaches conscious awareness. Most of the information processed by the brain is unconscious, hidden below the surface. Or to continue the analogy, most of the information is hidden inside the computer and only a small portion of it appears on the monitor to be seen and controlled.
The brain's black box
The computer in this case is like a black box. We can’t directly observe what processes go on in there, it’s completely hidden from us. All we can observe is what comes out at the other side and onto the monitor. Based on that, we can only make guesses as to what happened in the black box.
The black box – our unconscious – has great power. It selects what information ends up on the monitor and in what way it should be presented to us. It triggers emotions and instinctual actions. It will highlight some parts of an experience and tone down others, direct us toward certain aspects of the environment while completely blocking out others. It relies heavily on past experience and interprets the present as well as anticipates and predicts the future based on it.
This relates to a second illusion of the mind. We feel as if we live in the present moment and that conscious thoughts and decisions come before feelings and actions. But in fact, the unconscious brain reacts 10 times faster to internal and external events than our conscious mind. This means that it has reacted to, filtered and modified every experience multiple times over before we even become aware of what is happening.
So, in reality, everything you experience consciously is delayed and have already been experienced and interpreted unconsciously by your brain.
Psychological implications
Here is a model of the unconscious and conscious processes that I’ve described so far.
For more clarity on what this means in practice, I will provide a real-life example including some classic thinking-errors/biases that result from this:
You love to dance and you are at an event. A circle has formed and some people are dancing inside it. You feel happy and excited. As you are walking to join them, you notice someone looks at you a certain way. You stop moving and start to feel insecure, maybe even a little ashamed or anxious. Even though you wanted to dance, you back away and hide in the crowd. The happiness you felt a moment ago seems to have disappeared.
What happened here?
Following the model; your brain had registered the look, interpreted it as danger, triggered relevant emotions and actions - then served that up to your consciousness. You become aware of the bad feelings and an impulse to hide, you make a decision and you go along with it.
Now, was your brain’s interpretation correct? The situation could be interpreted in many different ways, but your brain chose only one of them for you to focus on. As is often the case, it just happened to be one of the most negative interpretations possible. In the black box, the brain working from a survival perspective, that interpretation likely represented the biggest potential danger, and so, deserved the most attention. Consciously, it feels true because that interpretation was all the information you received, and the emotions are certainly real. Naturally, because of that, you agree with the interpretation and act upon it.
The example highlights the negativity bias, which is the human tendency to focus more on the negative than the positive in any situation. Of course, because it’s more relevant for survival. Also, mind reading, the tendency to believe we know what others are thinking about us without verifying it.
It also highlights a third illusion of the mind. We have the sense that the objective world is the same as the world we experience. Therefore, the automatic conclusions from the black box tend to “feel true”. In reality, 90% of the input to the conscious mind comes from processes inside the brain. This means that what we experience as reality is actually mostly creations of the hidden, unconscious processes of the brain – from inside the black box.
Even though we can understand why the brain chose that interpretation, it was only one of many possible interpretations and not necessarily the truth.
The brain wants to survive
The brain works in this way for the survival benefits it offers. Consciously, most of us want to be happy and enjoy life, but the main goal of the brain is always survival. As such, it operates on the principle of “better safe than sorry”. The automatic reactions of the unconscious are effective for very fast interpretation and action. Thinking things through and analyzing problems and situations is certainly valuable but the brain won’t take the risk of being too slow.
Even though it is often helpful, the heavy reliance of the unconscious on past learning can cause some problems. It makes us hold onto beliefs about ourselves and the world that are no longer valid or helpful. It can cause exaggerated emotional responses, as is the case with anxiety disorders. Because it also anticipates and expects the future based on the past, self-fulfilling prophecies can arise. Leading us to recreate unsuccessful but familiar patterns of thought, emotion and behavior long after they’ve stopped being helpful or true.
Why is so much hidden from consciousness?
First of all, the unconscious brain manages so much information and so many processes simultaneously that it would be impossible to do consciously. Second, it is in fact likely that the ability for self-insight has been selected against in evolution. Because real self-knowledge can create hesitation, doubt and demoralization. Psychological defenses that distort reality can help us by decreasing anxiety, shame and depression. At the same time, they can enhance social relationships by putting a positive spin on the behavior of our loved ones. Additionally, if we believe our own untruths, we can more easily deceive others as we are less likely to reveal our true intentions through body language.
So, the brain has many good reasons to hide so much from our conscious awareness. Sometimes, however, we wish we had more control over ourselves. And often when we try to change, it becomes painfully clear that the sense of being in full control of ourselves is an illusion.
Do we have any control of ourselves?
This is basically a model of how the brain’s autopilot functions as it tailors your experience of reality and yourself. Incredibly fast, it guides your attention, actions and decisions throughout everyday life. As long as only the autopilot is active, you are literally controlled by the invisible forces inside of you.
In order to reach the goals that you set for yourself; you need to be able to consciously control yourself to a greater degree. Luckily, you have the ability for conscious manual control, but you must use it deliberately and it takes effort. Also, of course, you are always a few steps behind your automatic reactions.
If you recall the dance example, it's not possible to change the initial reaction or the emotions. But after that, the situation can be reevaluated consciously. After becoming aware, the person in the example could bring to mind other possible interpretations. Even come to new conclusions, such as enjoying dancing being more important than avoiding maybe being judged.
You don't choose and you can’t control the automatic emotions, conclusions and actions from your unconscious. But by paying attention and reevaluating in this way, you can still move toward your goals. Sometimes the conscious reevaluation is even powerful enough to change your emotional state, but that’s no guarantee and therefore shouldn't be your main goal.
If you do this, there is an extra bonus for you. As we know, past experience is what the unconscious relies on the most. As you go against the initial reactions of your brain and act in ways that you normally wouldn’t, you create new experiences for yourself. With time and repetition, you update your unconscious processes and change your automatic reactions. This is what you need to do to create real and lasting change.
Enhance self-control and manage your unconscious
At the heart of the human psychology are the two interwoven processes I've discussed so far; how your brain and mind create reality, and your ability to modify those constructs to promote health and optimal functioning.
It is a common human phenomenon to know what you need to do, but still not manage to do it. We can have the sense of being controlled from within by invisible forces, which we now know is largely true. The solution to the problem lies in understanding these hidden and unconscious processes and being able to reevaluate the conclusions they arrive at.
Through scientific research and experiments in psychology and neuroscience, some principles of what goes on in the black box are known. I have already mentioned most, such as the triggering of instincts and emotions that drive us to act in certain ways. Biases or thinking-errors that arise from the fast and automatic interpretations. The heavy reliance on past learning that shape things like relational and emotional patterns, for instance, like in the widely used concept of attachment styles.
However, your specific patterns will be unique to you and vary between situations because we all have different experiences and have learned different things. In order to make the knowledge of these principles truly helpful, you must practice your self-awareness and get to know yourself better.
You can do that by observing your mind with openness and acceptance, over time learning the patterns, habits and quirks of your brain. Meditation is a great tool for this. At first, it may be difficult or even scary to come in contact with certain parts of yourself. But, as you learn to observe yourself without judgement, it can be interesting and even fun to get to know yourself deeper, and to catch the occasional silly or farfetched interpretations your brain makes. The enhanced self-knowledge will be invaluable as you set up goals, create plans and work to realize them since you will be much better equipped to manage the invisible forces inside you.
A final key takeaway from all of this is to be skeptical of what your brain and mind comes up with. To be skeptical of “reality” and conclusions about what you can or can’t do. Approaching yourself with an open mind and a willingness to question your assumptions, especially when they are outdated, incorrect or unhelpful, is a key to mental health and optimal functioning.
There are many more benefits and implications around this concept that I will highlight more specifically in other articles, so keep an eye out for that.
Thank you for reading this article. Please let me know what you think and if you can relate to this in the comments and check out the related posts under this one.
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