Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious

I've been a fan of Timothy Wilson's research in social psychology for quite some time. He has been an author or co-author on some classic studies and reviews in psychology - usually asking interesting questions, using clever research methods, and written with clarity. In particular, if you can get your hands on the following paper it will give you a good idea of what you'll see in this book: "Telling more than we can know: verbal reports of mental processes" in Psychological Review (1977) with Richard Nisbett. In the first chapter "Freud's Genius, Freud's Myopia" Wilson compares modern and early psychological theories of the unconscious. Wilson argues that Freud made a great contribution to psychology by pointing out that we aren't always aware of our motives and thoughts, but that Freud's conceptualization of the unconsciousness was limited for many reasons. Wilson's view is of an information-processing unconscious that does much of the work needed to navigate us through the world without taxing our limited consciousness - unlike Freud's view of the unconscious as a reservoir of inappropriate thoughts and desires. Furthermore, Wilson's view is informed by much more, and more rigiourous, research than Freud's. An interesting chapter in the middle of the book discusses people's ability - or lack there of - to predict how they will react emotionally to events. This chapter is a good introduction to the concept of "affective forecasting" for people who are unfamiliar with the topic. However, the more recent book by Wilson's research collaborator Daniel Gilbert ("Stumbling on Happiness") is a more thorough and up-to-date treatment of this subject. In "Strangers to Ourselves" Wilson expands on some of his own research on the limits of introspection, as well as integrating ideas from other researchers. Wilson argues that because we cannot know ourselves via introspection that self-knowledge can be enhanced by understanding other people - an excellent point in my opinion as a psychologist. In the later chapters, Wilson blends his ideas about consciousness and self-knowledge with Jamie Pennibaker's research and theories into the effects of writing about emotional events. This is a fantastic book and I'd highly recommend it to people with any level of background knowledge in psychology from novices to experts.

Every once in a while you read a book whose ideas you know will stay with you in varying degrees the rest of your life. Congratulations: you are presently reading about one of those such books. Buy this book, read it, and thank me later. So you think you know yourself fairly well, huh? Read this book and then see what you think. The author's thesis is that we all have what he calls an "adaptive unconscious" which really "runs the show" in our lives. Now, I am far from being a determinist and the author, if I am correct, doesn't see himself as a determinist. I have always believed in free will--still do I suppose (I'm not sure because I just finished reading this book today.) However, I am convinced now that "free will" resides as much in the adaptive unconscious as much--if not more--than it does in my conscious mind. This is mind-boggling for me-and it will be for you if you read the author with an open mind. Timothy Wilson writes a solid, engaging book that refuses to condescend into pop psychology. In other words, he's a good writer who is able to put across complex psychology into words most laypeople can understand--a daunting task. One would have to read through dozens of psychological papers and books (and subsequently, take several naps) in order to figure out what he says very succinctly yet accurately in this book. I have worked with people in a "helping profession" for over twenty years. I have longed believed, though I am not a psychologist, in "the power of the unconscious mind." "Just think on it"--"Give him some time to think about it" are phrases I have said numerous times. After reading this book, I'm convinced that in such instances the "adaptive" unconscious already probably knows what to do--it's the conscious mind that's lagging behind, instead of vice-versa. I'm reminded of the urban saying: "Free you mind and you @#$ will follow." After reading this book I'm convinced that it is our adaptive unconscious that is the one doing the leading. If we want happiness, then we need to somehow be listening to it. "Strangers to Ourselves" is aptly named because it is difficult for one to access one own adaptive unconscious; consequently it is also not so easy for others to do it either, although others often have more insight into ourselves than we want to admit. The adaptive unconscious often finds it necessary to categorize people--doing so just makes it easier to operate within a limited amount of time. This is the downside to having an adaptive unconscious: racism and other such -isms can gain a foothold. Today industry, business and other sectors too often bring their agendas to the table when it's time to try to understand a human being. Personality tests are made so that people can be "understood" and then placed into the appropriate round or square hole--it's part of the human nature and the adaptive unconscious to attempt to do so. Ironically, Wilson makes it implicitly clear that it is *not so easy* to un

This is not a self-help book in the 'pop-psychology' vein, as I percieve it. This book is less about easy answers and more about deeper hows and whys. After all if you know how and why, answers become self-evident anyway, but the reciprocal is not always true. It easier to determine answers but they usually don't tell you why and how. Though I admit approached this work in a recreational mindset - you know, that 'this looks like a fun read'...boy was I wrong in some respects! This little book will kick your notions of consciousness and just who or what is in charge of you right on their head. You get to face concept that it's not always the conscious you that is at the helm (even when you're sure it is)...in some respects the conscious you is often just a spectator. Weird, but true I feel. How many times for example somebody will ask you something and you know the answer the instant they have finished speaking? You haven't even had time to work out the answer and there it is (i'm not talking about automaticity or simple stuff)...then you have to check the answer with your conscious mind to see that it is right (which it is: often my conscous mind takes much longer to arrive at the same answer when checking). That is your adapative unconscious! And this thing is far more pervasive and in control then we may imagine or realize. Ok, this isn't a massively scholarly work that is so arcane as to be unapproachable by most. Indeed it is simply written exposition of a particular philosophy of mind than, while not heavily evidenced, is rather commonsensical. As Richard Feynman suggested you can describe virtually anything in simple terms if you understand it well enough, and both I and my unconscious both agree that Timothy D Wilson has a firm grasp on this concept. Though I suspect there is an ulterior motive: get people to undertand how to interpret their behavior by seeing how other's see them and modify this so they act in more approapriate and decent way toward others (now there's a goal...) Chapters include: Freud's Genius, Freud's Myopia The Adapative unconscous Who's in charge? Knowing who we are KNowing Why Knowing How we feel KNowing how we will feel Introspection and self-narratives Looking outward to know ourselves Observing and changing our behavior So Mr WIlson basically does some things with this book, for example: * He teaches you recognize that your conscious you is not entirely in charge * He teaches you that, although you can't 'see' your unconscious mind directly, you can see it's effects and interactions with others and therefore you can view and interpret it indirectly. * We typically delude and misinterpret ourselves to protect and enhance our mental wellbeing * we tend to overexaggerate the effect of various phenomena * we tend to consciously want things that we convince oursleves would improve our lives, that really our detrimental to our wellbeing * He suggests that often our feelings about things are not legitmate, a

Strangers to Ourselves is a clearly written and important book identifying the various internal walls impeding self-knowledge and providing advice on how we might enhance our ability to surmount them. The former constitutes the more interesting aspect of Wilson's book. His contention is that "human personality resides in two places: in the adaptive unconscious and in the conscious construal of the self." The latter is often deceptive, the former inaccessible. Much of the difficulty we face in getting an accurate assessment of our self stems the existence of our "adaptive unconciousness," that set of mental processes that influence our behavior "behind the scenes," as it were. For all its important influence, our adaptive conciousness remains beyond the accessibility of our conscious. So, how are we to achieve his second objective; that of trying to improve our self-knowledge? On this question, Wilson does not abandon us, though he does concede that there are limits to what we can do. The development of self-narratives, trying to observe ourselves as though we were outside ourselves (like the mathematician who solved a problem he found otherwise intractable until he managed to transform himself as his friend, John Nash, and approach the problem from Nash's vantage point), and altering our behavior in advance of attitudinal change are among his proposals for deepening self-understanding. In all, an excellent source for the general reader to come to grips with him or herself. I know, if my adaptive unconciousness could reach me, that it would agree!

Combining a variety of studies and experiments, Timothy Wilson has written a fun, challenging, and intelligent book about the connections between our unconscious and our conscious minds. Avoiding old dualisms, showing why Freudian psycholanalysis is a dead-end, Wilson shows how little we understand ourselves, and what we can do to gain more knowledge. Wilson writes engaging prose, with no jargon; but he presents ideas that intrigueing and exciting. Using many studies and experiments, this book makes the reader think about why we do what we do: the answers are not always comforting, but always important. This is a terrific book.