Decision making is defined as a mental process leading to the selection of one choice, among several alternatives (Beach, 1993). It is thought that the unconscious mind is optimally designed for decision making (DM), due to its limitless capacity and ability to integrate vast amounts of information; while the conscious mind has a limited capacity and is more subjectively driven by expectancies and schemas; lacking characteristics needed for optimal DM. Consciousness is defined as a mental state which surrounds awareness; with unconsciousness being a reasoning occurring while conscious attention is allocated elsewhere (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). Two of the most popular studies in implicit DM have been the IOWA gambling task (IGT, Bechara,
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The first of Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) experiments demonstrated this. Participants were subject to either conscious or unconscious modes of thought, then randomly assigned to either a complex or simple experimental group. Dependant on their complexity, participants were given four (simple) or twelve (complex) different attributes describing four hypothetical cars. Before deciding which car was the best, the UT group were distracted with an anagram, while CT participants were asked to deliberate their decision for four minutes. Despite results, when directly comparing unconscious to conscious deliberation, not being statistically significant (P<.08) Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) concluded that the optimal decision was selected greater by participants in UT …show more content…
While Bechara et al. (1997) and Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) suggest that the unconscious has a role in guiding DM, they fail to consider important influential factors such as knowledge, expertise and weighing which contribute to optimal DM. It is important for researchers to distinguish between process that are automatic and those that are unconscious. Automatic decisions could simply derive from habitual activities rather than UT. We don’t actively think about walking down the street; however this does take a limited amount of conscious attention as if we are distracted, we are more likely to fall over- implying that decision making cannot be purely due to UT processing but UT and CT interacting together. Bechara et al (1997) and Dijksterhuis et al. (2006), explicitly ask participants to make decisions in order to test whether their CT hinders the quality of their DM. It may be beneficial for future research to divert participant attention from the hypothesis so participants are unlikely to be aware of potential influences of their behaviour- this may lead to a credible scientific conclusion as to whether decision making occurs
The first of Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) experiments demonstrated this. Participants were subject to either conscious or unconscious modes of thought, then randomly assigned to either a complex or simple experimental group. Dependant on their complexity, participants were given four (simple) or twelve (complex) different attributes describing four hypothetical cars. Before deciding which car was the best, the UT group were distracted with an anagram, while CT participants were asked to deliberate their decision for four minutes. Despite results, when directly comparing unconscious to conscious deliberation, not being statistically significant (P<.08) Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) concluded that the optimal decision was selected greater by participants in UT …show more content…
While Bechara et al. (1997) and Dijksterhuis et al. (2006) suggest that the unconscious has a role in guiding DM, they fail to consider important influential factors such as knowledge, expertise and weighing which contribute to optimal DM. It is important for researchers to distinguish between process that are automatic and those that are unconscious. Automatic decisions could simply derive from habitual activities rather than UT. We don’t actively think about walking down the street; however this does take a limited amount of conscious attention as if we are distracted, we are more likely to fall over- implying that decision making cannot be purely due to UT processing but UT and CT interacting together. Bechara et al (1997) and Dijksterhuis et al. (2006), explicitly ask participants to make decisions in order to test whether their CT hinders the quality of their DM. It may be beneficial for future research to divert participant attention from the hypothesis so participants are unlikely to be aware of potential influences of their behaviour- this may lead to a credible scientific conclusion as to whether decision making occurs