Conscious and Unconscious

Abstract

This chapter determines the relationship between the conscious and unconscious aspects of brain function. The unconscious consists of those mental processes that occur automatically and are not available to introspection. Increasingly, studies of brain function are revealing that a surprising amount of that function is automatic, and therefore, unconscious. However, there are controversial aspects to discussions about the unconscious, particularly the idea that it may play a far more contradictory role in consciousness, even acting in opposition to conscious thoughts. Such a viewpoint sees the unconscious as a force that may suppress unwelcome thoughts, but which might also make us carry out actions that do not appear to have been planned by our rational minds, and may even appear wholly irrational. This view of the unconscious mind is most associated with Sigmund Freud. Freud viewed the unconscious as the epicentre of people's repressed thoughts, traumatic memories, and fundamental drives of sex and aggression. This chapter reconsiders this view of the unconscious by relating to Mind Shift’s central theme about the importance of language in shaping consciousness.