Is it possible that you can have a subconscious that's at oddswithyourconsciousmind

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by visceral_instinct, Jul 14, 2009.

  1. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Apologies for the messed up subject line. I couldn't fit it all in

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    Taken from another thread:

    Me: I have absolutely no desire to have a baby
    swarm: You might be surprised. Those instincts run really deep, and the conscious where where we "absolutely have no desire" is really new.

    (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?p=2272195#post2272195)

    Is this possible? Can we have a conscious mind that strongly feels one thing and a subconscious or unconscious mind that feels something entirely different, even contrary to what the conscious mind wants?
     
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  3. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

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    Thread titles around here just crack me up! To me, it's a sign of a lack of intelligence that the writer can't think up a simple title ...without typing out the whole freakin' question of the topic!!

    Can you prove to me that you even have such a thing as a "subconscious" mind? Can you point to it? Can you take it out and play with it? Where is it?

    Baron Max
     
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  5. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I can't be bothered. Cry me a fucking river.


    I didn't say we definitely had one, I asked a fucking question. Learn to fucking read.
     
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  7. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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    Do any of your night dreams feel alien to you...as if you couldn't possibly have imagined them in a waking state???

    This is the subconscious speaking.
     
  8. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah, DEFINITELY.
     
  9. baftan ******* Valued Senior Member

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    Conscious mind largely politicize and idealise things while use some emotions. Subconscious mind largely follows the basic rules (reproduction, status, security etc. related) and use some emotions.

    For this reason only, they can push contradicting ideas into mind, because their perception is different. You are the decision maker: If, for example, you sterilize yourself for not having any child, the expectations of your subconscious would never prevail, no matter how powerful they are, because you eliminated the physical possibility.

    If you listen to your subconscious and have a child, your conscious mind will find an appropriate example, excuse or ideal to support the decision, anyway.
     
  10. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    So your subconscious is like another person, dormant in your brain, who you don't know very well? That's overdramatic, I know, but it's the best description I can think of...
     
  11. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Certainly.
    Most of the time we don't even know what we want, we 'just do it'.

    But in the case of wanting a baby.. just wait until you're a bit older.
    See if you want a baby then

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  12. Dub_ Strange loop Registered Senior Member

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    Absolutely, but please don't go thinking that there's anything mysterious about it.

    As an example: right now there is a large chocolate cake sitting in my kitchen. A part of me is telling me that I should get up, go to the kitchen, and eat the entire delicious thing right now. (It's been telling me this for some time, in fact.) But my more rational mind is telling me that this is probably not a very good idea. (I try to be at least a little bit healthier than eating chocolate cake for lunch.)

    The big problem with all this "subconscious" stuff is that it's been reified so much. Sure, lots of cognitive processes are partially or entirely outside of conscious awareness. That this is true has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. But that doesn't mean that there's a little homunculus wearing a "subconscious" name tag sitting inside your head, like some sort of hidden puppet master. Freud was way off in that respect.
     
  13. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    That was exactly what I was referring to;

    On one hand, I'm told, I have a subconscious that probably wants a baby. Or to use a less simplified/short hand expression, I have deeply ingrained instincts that will probably impel me to have a baby, despite whatever my conscious self thinks.

    On the other, I have a conscious personality that would rather eat vomit than go near a small child and have to be nice to them.

    Is that possible?
     
  14. WillNever Valued Senior Member

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    Not really. By subconscious he may be talking about basic bodily instincts, or feelings of truth that we deny because we want to be and believe something else. It's not a whole other "mind" though.
     
  15. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    Well, I've had some mighty strange dreams in my time, and done things in those dreams that I wouldn't think of doing in real life...I guess that's my subconcious mind coming out and playing around.
     
  16. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    In my case, though, it isn't denial.
     
  17. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

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    How do you know that? People "in denial" are the very ones who do NOT know that they're in denial. ...LOL!

    VI, you're a hoot!! Silly as hell sometimes, but still a hoot!

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    Baron Max
     
  18. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Not denial?

    I don't know where this oh so powerful instinct of mine that wants a baby is, then.

    Maybe she got badly bullied by the rest of my brain, and is hanging out somewhere in my intestines?
     
  19. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

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    VI, lots and lots of young women start their lives with no intention of having any curtain-climbers, but the inner, biological clock can sometimes come charging out of her body/mind with a vengeance.

    I stil don't know about this thing that people call a "subconscious" mind? One guy up in the thread somewhere seems to have some questions about it, too.

    Hey, if we have a subconscious mind, can we also have a sub-subconscious mind? If not, why not?

    Baron Max
     
  20. skaught The field its covered in blood Valued Senior Member

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    Have you heard of the shadow?
     
  21. Search & Destroy Take one bite at a time Moderator

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    people stopped using the term subconscious some years ago to use the more correct form 'unconscious mind.' Read any cog sci literature published recently.
     
  22. Dub_ Strange loop Registered Senior Member

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    To clarify, the term "subconscious" was never used in serious academic writing in the first place, not even among Freud and his contemporaries. He briefly toyed with that word in the beginning, but quickly realized that it was ambiguous and misleading (also it conflicted with his other idea of a preconscious), and so the term 'unconscious' has been the correct usage since pretty much the beginning. That's why when someone uses the term subconscious, any psychologist immediately knows they're full of it.
     
  23. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Anyone who can remember jumping from a height for the first time can recall an experience of the influence of a "subconscious" mind that wants to overrule some decision the conscious mind has made.

    Your conscious mind might know that it's just water, the diving board is only a few feet up, everyone else does it no problem, and so forth. Your underlying mind, call it what you will, is not convinced.

    I have encountered three levels, myself, while walking across a very high railroad bridge with a tiny railing and clear gaps between the catwalk boards. There's one level, that says "this is perfectly safe, I'm walking on a solid bridge with a beautiful view ". There's a second level, that is reacting negatively and with increasing urgency to a strange internal urge. The urge is coming from the third level, the one that was laid down when we were monkeys and the trees were home, and it is saying "hey, that looks like fun, why not jump to the next girder down and swing by one hand over a hundred feet of open air?".
     

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