Unconscious mental processes

I should point out that most cognitive tasks measure unconscious mental processes, not conscious ones, so there is still no substitute for introspection if the cognitive neuroscience of consciousness itself is our goal. But... 

The basic model that we have been using for clairvoyance (Figure 2-1) can be used for the PMIR if one change is made. The clairvoyance model assumed that our conscious minds activate psi by desiring or otherwise informing unconscious processes or the psi receptor processes to search for and retrieve the desired psi information. In the PMIR model, we must assume that the psi receptor and the unconscious mind are active (at least sometimes, perhaps all the time) whether or not the conscious mind desires this. The scanning of the environment by psi activates unconscious mental processes, which may, in turn, call for more psi, and so on. Finally, this affects conscious mental processes or directly affects behavior and results in need-satisfying action. 

In our ordinary state of consciousness, we infer the existence of the unconscious mind because people behave in ways that do not make sense in terms of what they can describe about their conscious processes but that do fit a theory that they are being influenced by certain kinds of mental processes going on outside their awareness. For example, a psychoanalytic patient might be talking about how much he loves his brother, but the analyst notices that the patient s hands make strangling movements,... 

Like our other models of psi processes, the model of telepathy has been chosen to fit in with commonsense assumptions about the nature of the universe, particularly about the identity of brain and nervous system functions and mental processes. And like the other models, this may not reflect reality so much as it reflects our attachment to our conceptions. Thus, the information-flow route that seems most likely (from external target stimulus via the sense organs to the brain to the transmitting process to the percipient, possibly with representation in the conscious or unconscious mind) may not be the case. The information-flow... 

We now move to criteria derived from theories on human information processing and organisational learning. The SHE performance indicator must be transparent and easily understood in that its meaning is apparent and compatible with the users s theoretical understanding and unconscious mental models. 

The reality of unconscious processes, mental or emotional processes that affect us and yet lie outside conscious awareness, is widely accepted in modern psychology. A specific form of unconscious processes, known as perceptual defense, has not been generally accepted, in spite of good experimental evidence for it. The haggling over the reality of perceptual defense has been so intense that I have suspected the idea is being actively resisted. It is too clear a reminder of how mechanical we are. 

As an adult, then, you want to be open and compassionate but you don t know how to. Our fears and our ingrained habits of mental and emotional functioning cut us off from the parts of our essential selves that generate love and compassion. While you can try to deal with obvious, conscious fears about openness, the ingrained habits and unconscious fears are more difficult to deal with. They require various combinations of mindfulness, vulnerability, psychotherapylike growth, and reduction of the process of identification. 

Let us therefore accept that eureka experiences are common (that is, general) to the human species, and possibly even common (that is, frequent) in the lives of many individuals. One could suggest explanations for this phenomenon that do not imply that it is the result of productive processing by the unconscious mind. It could simply be, for example, that ideas sometimes may come more readily to a mind that is in a state of relaxation or, alternatively, that intensive directed mental work can sometimes result in the channeling of thought in an unproductive direction, so progress is made precisely when the directed character of the work ceases. But these hypotheses do not seem to match very well the circumstantial details of the best-studied cases. ... 

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