PREVALENT MISUNDERSTANDING CONCERNINGUN CONSCIOUS MIND*

BY TOM A. WILLIAMS, M.B., CM.WASIIIMnON, 1). c.

MUCH popularity has been gained by the notion that one canbe affected by emotion unconsciously. The conception ispart of a doctrine highly prevalent under various guises.

The terms subconsciousnes.s, unconsciousness, foreconseiousness,subliminal consciousness are used to describe varying aspects ofawareness. The -whole doctrine seems to me a misconception, notonly of the import of consciousness, which! shall not discuss, but ofthe role of the forgotten. ]t has been assumed that forgotten ex-periences of -which the patient is quite unconscious, modifybehavior just as if they -were present "in the mind" at the time.Jt is not objectionable that this theory is largely based upon theexploration of the minds of neurotics; for the mental processes ofthe average person are postulated on grounds quite similar, as inthe mechanism of their thinking or feeling there is no essentialdifference bet-ween the individuals called normal and those calledneurotic.

Now, while it is true that the ground work of a person'spresent motives is usually unknown to him without exploration,yet, this is no ground for the assumption that the initial deter-minants of his behavior are pushed out of sight quasi-inten-tionally. Even when they are not unpleasant, their disappearancefrom, memory is no less complete, and we have no more warrantfor asserting that they are acting upon us "in the unconscious"because they are unpleasant, than we have if we were to main-tain that a long forgotten axiom which had led to conclusions isstill continuing to act upon us more potently because submerged.What really happens in this latter ease, which is not disputed, isthat a series of facts, long forgotten, and ceasing to act in them-selves have led to a generalization which has been a motivating1force in our thinking, feeling and doing. Several generalizationsof this kind may be utilized for a further conclusion and thereforepass into abeyance and be forgotten.

An interesting example of this is presented in the year 1922,by the resuscitation of the long dead antievolutionary propaganda.-Many ardent students of this controversy several decades ago,

* Read before the American Psychopathological Association, tlune, 192.'!, at Boston.

78 Prevalent Misunderstanding Concerning Unconscious Mind

although now strongly motivated by evolutionary doctrine findthemselves incapable of restating the groundwork of their beliefbecause many of the numerous facts and inductions upon which itdepends are forgotten. Would it be right to say that these factsare lurking in the unconscious, actuating their beliefs'/ No onewill be found to maintain this except in the sense that the personAVIIO lias forgotten these facts is unconscious of them, and that it isultimately because of having known these facts that he thinks ashe does. But even this would not follow; for even now there aremany believers in the doctrine of evolution Avho have never madethe inductions, and are ignorant of many of the basic facts of thedoctrine. Ignorance of the ground work of their beliefs becomesthe rule in teaching of ancient date, such as those of the olderreligions, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Copernican cosmogony,etc. One of the reasons for the vitality of the Christian Sciencereligion is its newness, as it compelled its devotees to have knowl-edge of its groundwork.

Objection may be made that the foregoing examples of for-getting differ from psychological forgetting in the lack of emo-tional significance. The objection is invalid, however, becausehundreds of people reach evolutionary beliefs only through astruggle fraught with distressing emotions. In religious conver-sions too, the emotional factor is intense, and yet how few con-verts can present us with even a plausible induction from facts tojustify their belief.

It is true that forgotten facts may be resuscitated far moresuccessfully than one thinks, and that their resuscitation need notbe dependent upon the emotional significance at all. For instanceto answer certain questions required by the State Medical BoardExamination compelled me to recall certain facts in chemistry ofthe forgetting of Avhich 1 was quite confident, as some had beenout of my mind for eighteen years.

In the above case the recall was compelled by intense concen-tration upon a definite matter of thought. The most commonmethod of recalling submerged memories is, of course, by associa-tion. An analogy might be drawn by imagining a series of com-partments closed by metal lids, each capable of vibrating to certainsounds, or other undulant stimuli. "When its particular note issounded with sufficient intensity the vibration of the lid pushesaside the catch which holds it, and the fluid flows from the re-ceptacle. Interference by concomitant waves of the appropriatevibrations will impede their usual effect. That physical state is

Tom A. Williams

~ comparable to the difficulty of directing- thought when stimulated; by distractions. All philosophers have known that the desert

favors meditation, which only means concentration of thoughtuninterrupted.

Hence, if a person's thoughts are directed towards a particularinquiry, very many matters which he does not habitually noticearise in memory. ^Morton Prince in his interesting relation of hisown methods of composing has well illustrated this ("The Un-conscious"). Matters not habitually brought to attention havelittle affected his thinking hitherto, but now when resuscitated andapposed they may form the material for a new generalization. In

- this way what we call imagination brings new discoveries; theseare merely syntheses of former experiences. Thus arise furtherinductions, in a way new to the individual, and sometimes tohumanity. This concentration may be deliberate; it is greatlydeveloped by training: mathematics, inductive science, the philoso-phies especially develop it; but it is stimulated by all human activi-ties where intelligence is required, and thinkers for their ownadvantage in politics and business are no exception. There arepersons who channel their minds more readily in talking; others doso better in writing. The state of the feeling is responsible inmany of these instances, as the company of others compels an

- effort of concentration for which there is less motivation at thedesk alone. It is, however, largely a matter of habit.

By relieving the mind of incoming stimuli, and the need ofattention to daily tasks, an illness may stimulate recollection, andespecially as the alteration of the physical state may, by changingthe feeling tone, arouse association with former feelings, whichwhen once aroused lead to a train of reverie which brings back along neglected past. Such is the instance related by an observantand penetrating mind, untainted by psychological theory, amongthe recollections of his boyhood by \Y. II. Hudson:

"When a person endeavors to recall his early life he finds thatit is not possible, there is nothing but isolated spots or patcheswhile it seems that the rest has been permanently blotted out;whereas in some rare states of mind it is revealed to him as by amiracle that nothing is ever blotted out. It was through fallinginto such a state of clear and continued vision of the past that Iwas forced to Avrite this account of my early years.

"During a severe illness I fell into recollections of my child-, hood. It was as if the cloud shadows and haze had passed awayand the entire wide prospect beneath me made clearly visible. I

. set nivself to trv to save this vision from the oblivion Avhich would

80 Prevalent Misunderstanding Concerning Unconscious Mind

presently cover it again. 1 never ceased wondering at my mentalstate; ] thought of it -when quickly tired, my trembling finger*dropped the pencil, or when I woke from uneasy sleep to find thevision still before me, to resume my childish rambles and adven-tures of long ago."

"Wo are not conscious, as such, of the overtones which makedifference of timbre in musical instruments and yet they furnishdifferences of sensation which produce different states of con-sciousness which are by no means the fruit of "the unconsciousmind." This obvious enough statement is made as an approach toone often made as a plea for the unconscious mind. Its pro-ponents claim that the state of the viscera, part of an emotionalreaction, though unperceived as such by the subject, yet affectshis behavior by means of his unconscious. This is a quite un-necessary hypothesis, as the cases are parallel; for the patient isjust as much conscious of the modification of feelings emanatingfrom his viscera as he is of the modification of sensation evokedby differences of timbre; although in neither case can he describethe sensory elements which modify his state. It is not becausestates of the body require an esoteric registration by an uncon-scious mind, that they modify behavior, but because they directlyinfluence the basis of conscious thought. "Whether they are con-scious or not is purely a matter of directing the attention towardsthem. It is surely idle to pretend that feelings unattended to arepart of an unconscious mind even when they are influencing be-havior, as, for example, when an irascibility is provoked by apainful tooth which one has for the moment forgotten in concen-tration on a business affair in which one's efficiency suffers inconsequence. That feeling tones are not unconscious affairs isshown by the frequency with which they are spoken of as when onesays " I feel sad, gay, cross, miserable, grieved, depressed."

The same is true of motivation. That persons are often quiteunaware of their real motives is not because these act througha separate unconscious mind, but because the subjects are with-out aid unable, or unwilling, to bring their attention strongly tobear upon them. It is a mental laziness comparable with that ofmany overindulged young women who will not apply themselvesto mathematics or mechanics and permit a man to perform forthem a simple adjustment or calculation of which they erroneouslybelieve themselves incapable. The dishonest mind dislikes intro-spection, preferring to remain unaware of what it dimly feelswould be unpleasant. That is why so many motives are regardedby psychoanalysts as unconscious. A motivation may be quite

Tom A. Williams 81effective "without being bared to the light. That everything whichis not stated in the form of syllogisms is an appurtenance of adifferent species of mind to be known as unconscious appears tobe the contention of many.

It is a misstatement of fact to declare that our motives areretained in the unconscious. They are dependent upon experienceand memory. They are ways of reacting to circumstance habitualto each. Xow a memory is not comparable, as so commonly sup-posed, to be a package of goods stored in a pigeon hole to bebrought out when required. It is a sequence of stimuli each pro-voked by another and eventuating in an end which is a movement,even when thai movement is confined within oneself to modifica-tions of blood vessels, viscera and muscle tensions. Facilitationis the name given to the property of tho nervous tissues whichpermit training in ordered acts.

Ordered thinking is not different from ordered movement inits basis. Because I cannot recall a certain word is not because itslumbers in the unconscious, hut because the mechanism whichcreates that word has not received adequate stimulus. The sensa-tion that it is hovering in the offing should not be compared tothat of swine hunting for truffles. It is a consciousness of thesensations of the processes which precede their completion in theemergence of the word sought. An illustration will make thisclear:

In a recent after dinner speech I could not recall the wordgourmond. What came to my mind was the word epicure, whichI knew was not what 1 sought; but besides this was the conscious-ness of two words of similar significance with a minor difference,and of a sense to which the word epicure was sometimes errone-ously applied; but neither word came to mind when wanted thoughI knew that one would necessarily bring the other. Later in thespeech, as I expected, T recalled the elusive word.

Motivation may be dependent upon a feeling for appropriate-ness. This itself is dependent upon experience in the avoidanceof the unpleasant and the turning towards the agreeable. It maybe expressed as the outcropping of a mental set whenever thesurroundings stimulate it. Tt is strictly comparable to what iscalled in animal behavior an action pattern.

Although people are often quite unconscious of their ownmental sets or action patterns, this is not because they are mani-festations of unconscious mind, but because their attention hasnot been directed towards analyzing them.

This reasoning applies equally to automatic activities, for

82 Prevalent Misunderstanding Concerning Unconscious Mind

example, in interpreting music on the piano, the player is notactively conscious of the position of each finger and the strikingof each individual note in the minute particular way he attendsto during technical practice.

This is not because it has been relegated to an unconsciousmind, but because when the mind is set that way the sight of acertain succession of notes at an indicated tempo and sonorityinduces a succession of movements of corresponding force andvelocity. That, though automatic, there is a conscious operationis shown by the fact that it can be immediately arrested or can bemodified as to speed and intensity, nuance or variation. That atthe same time the subject can sing or even talk is merely a featof division of attention, a commonplace to many operations ofhuman beings. For example a business man while chaffering withanother is not only thinking of the trade they are making, butis estimating the personal reaction of his antagonist as well as theconsequences of their commerce.

Mere suggestion is often capable of changing the mental atti-tude of living beings towards situations, so that unpleasant feel-ings are deprived of their grounds. It is by a complex inductionof logical and philosophical hearings that the reconditioning ofpatients is affected by the doctrines of Christian Science, disre-gardful of physical states and without reference to psychologicalmechanisms. No solid reconstruction is thereby effected, andpatients reconditioned by this unsound procedure frequently fallinto states of anxiety or other distressing emotions.

The complex inductions concerning the role of the sexualityportrayed by the followers of Freud are equally capable ofmelioristic effects. The psychoanalyst erects a man of straw inwhich he makes the patient believe and which lie then destroys.The patient, then persuaded of the disappearance of the bogey,believes himself well so long as he continues to believe; but thefoundation being of sand is unstable and he relapses.*

Effort to escape from the unpleasant is a primordial functionof living beings. The distressing emotions such as fear, disgustand hate are avoided by all men. As the preceding considerationshave shown, this avoidance in the mind need postulate no mysticaltheory of unconsciousness; for the attempt to avoid by diversion,distraction, self-deception, substitution, is a perfectly straight-

* Regarding many other factors ignored tiy certain psychoanalyst.-, see ''SomeNeglected Psychopathic Factors," read before this ARSocintion in 1922 and publishedin the Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct. 15)22.

Tom A. Williams S3

forward way "without recourse to artefactual conceptions of theunconscious. The following is a case in point where fear was themotive incriminable, and where although insight into the psychicmechanism on the part of the patient was quite inadequate, yetthe sequence of thinking and feeling was readily ascertainableirlten the }>aticnt was compelled to introspect. His unwillingnessto face should not therefore be translated into incapacity toknow.

In a state of abject terror, face congested, eyes bloodshot,trembling violently, unable to leave the hotel to undertake im-portant official business for which lie had come to Washington, aman unwillingly permitted me to see him at the instigation of alocal physician and a business associate who had accompaniedhim. An intense fear increasing during several years was moreand more incapacitating him for affairs. Medical treatment, rest,travel had been without avail, and he was in despair at the failureof these methods. Apparently he had no inkling of the basis ofhis dreads: but in reality he dreaded the examination into theirsources. "When investigation was sedulously pushed it was dis-covered that he was compelled to refrain from business enter-prises because of fear of storms, and especially winds. It wasascertained that this had arisen because of the bursting of a largedam and his struggle to reach home against a panic-strickencrowd. Further exploration revealed the basis of the fear asthat of death. This was the factor which demanded therapeuticreconditioning. In order to effect this, the personality of an onlychild, always spoilt even by his business associates, had to be dealtwith until the point was reached where he spontaneously declared,"Perhaps I don't amount to much anyway", and later showed therealization of his needs by stating " I have concluded T will bejust what I make myself". The reconditioning idea then mighthe stated shortly as ""Why should I he afraid of losing a lifewhich after all is that of a person nothing like so valuable as Ihad supposed?" Hence the root of his difficulty was an inade-quate insight into the psychic processes concerned. This led tothe pejoristic attitude, fear of death: and this interfered with hisefficiency by preventing his undertaking the activities necessary inhis business. This incapacity led to other fears with regard tosuccess, esteem, economic status; and an acute anxiety producedthe clinical picture which was seen at my first visit. In less thana week he was impregnated by the truth regarding himself. This

84 Prevalent M^understanding Concerning Unconscious Mind

was melioristic in tendency and therefore permitted him to adjusthimself to the conditions of his life without distressing emotions.1

The mechanism was ascertained without resort to dreamanalysis, artificial association experiments, or the abstractions ofmind required in the free association method. These expedientsare merely indicators of anamnestic incapacity on the part of theexaminer, who is often too self-conscious concerning his ownsocial reactions, particularly in sex relation, and therefore pre-vents the free unfolding of the patient's mind.

A remarkable illustration of this interpretation was recentlyafforded in the case of a young woman sent me from a neighboringuniversity because of a prolonged inertia which her physiciansurmised might arise from sexual repressions. I was totallyunable to ascertain any such thing from the patient, although T,too, strongly suspected a factor of this kind. The credulous mighthave concluded therefore that sexual maladjustment had been"repressed into the unconscious".

Much experience prevented this point of view however. Isimply attributed my failure- to lack of skill: and this interpreta-tion was quickly confirmed by the revelations made by the patientto an exceptionally intelligent nurse. After this, the patientreadily admitted the sexual factors which she had been too timidto reveal to me. Bui even then she remained unwilling to dis-cuss them further. This from a therapeutic point of view, how-ever, was unimportant, as other factors in the case required to 1>Pdealt with also. From our point of view the important point isthat the so-called repressions were mere reluctances. I stronglybelieve that a similar more critical estimation of the revelationsof patients would leave very little clinical basis for the doctrine ofthe unconscious so strongly advocated by some psychopatholo-gists.2

'See other instances related at lonptli in my recent publication, "Dreads andBesetting Fours." Little Brown and Co.. Boston. ]!)23.

2See "Rehabilitation of Young Women." Virginia Medical Monthly. 1924;"Situation Psvehoses," Southern Medical Journal, 1924.