What Is the Unconscious Mind?

Sigmund Freud described the mind as an iceberg with the unconscious mind far exceeding the visible part above the surface.

Source: Courtesy of Damian Pang, incorporating images from Annie Spratt (Unsplash) and Simon Lee (Unsplash).

Our mind encompasses the entirety of our thoughts, hopes, dreams, perceptions, and experiences (Armstrong, 1980). In scientific terms, the mind is the sum of the myriad cognitive processes and functions that include thought, perception, emotion, memory, language, and decision-making (Friedenberg & Silverman, 2015). If the mind encompasses the totality of our experience and inner life, we are only aware of a small portion of it. Most of these processes occur without our direct awareness but can still shape our thinking, influence our decisions, and impact our behaviour. This is the unconscious mind.

Early Concepts of the Unconscious Mind

The idea of an unconscious mind is not a new concept and can be found in the ancient Hindu Vedas, which explicitly referred to unconscious aspects of the mind (Venkoba, 2002). In Europe, unconscious aspects of cognition were described 500 years ago by the Swiss physician Paracelsus (Borzelleca, 2000; Galdston, 1950) and later discussed by many philosophers—from Friedrich Schelling, who talked about the two sides of the soul (Otabe, 2019; Rand, 2004) to Friedrich Nietzsche who developed a detailed framework for the unconscious mind (Katsafanas, 2013).

Early psychologists, like William James, not only supported but actively studied unconscious processes (Weinberger, 2000). One problem in tracing its history is that the term ‘unconscious’ was primarily used as a metaphysical position, claiming that mental states are composed of elementary mental units. What we now mean by the ‘unconscious’ was referred to by a range of different terms (Weinberger, 2000). Other pioneers in modern psychology, like Hermann von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Wundt also extensively studied unconscious processes, specifically on unconscious inferences (Araujo, 2012; Cristalli, 2022). However, the real paradigm shift on the unconscious came on the back of a completely new approach to psychology: psychoanalysis.

The Freudian Revolution

Sigmund Freud revolutionised psychology. Although his influence was declining, he had a profound influence on the field (Yeung, 2021). He catapulted the idea that unconscious forces impact human behaviour into the popular imagination (Power, 2000). Freud divided the mind into three parts, using an iceberg to illustrate them:

The conscious mind is what we are aware of and includes our thoughts, perceptions, and feelings. Right below the surface sits the preconscious mind, which comprises memories, knowledge, and general information. It is not in our immediate awareness but readily accessible. The vast submerged portion is made up of the unconscious mind, filled with our desires, motives, and wishes.

A Scientific Approach

Freud’s theory is pervasive as it can provide explanations for almost all mental states and behaviours. However, this is one of its main weaknesses: Being able to explain everything in hindsight—even for contradictory outcomes—removes all predictive power before the fact. Much of current science is based on the principle of falsification, but many of Freud’s theories cannot be falsified precisely because they account for almost all possible outcomes. The idea of falsification, introduced by the Austrian-British philosopher of science Karl Popper, was largely motivated by a desire to show that psychoanalysis (as well as Marxism) was not scientific (Thornton, 2023). While Freud still has some devoted followers, most cognitive scientists view his theories as unscientific. It is important to note that this does not imply that they are wrong but simply that they are not based on scientific principles and methods (Tallis, 2023).

While the iceberg theory is no longer widely used by scientists, Freud still ushered in a new era of awareness of the unconscious. Unfortunately, because of psychoanalysis's questionable scientific status, scientific studies of the unconscious have been neglected for many decades.

Insights From Current Neuroscience

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The cognitive sciences have seen explosive growth in recent decades, in part because of new technological breakthroughs like the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; Pang, 2023a). One thing that stands out from these findings is that most brain processes occur without any conscious awareness. Consciousness has sometimes been likened to a narrow spotlight on the vast stage, that is, the brain (Baars, 1988; Dehaene et al., 2006). Freud’s iceberg is merely a metaphor that does not directly correspond to specific brain states or functions. However, it is correct to highlight that most of our brains’ functions occur without awareness. As such, it serves as a good illustration. Almost everything the mind does—from seemingly simple perception to choreographing movements—requires an enormous number of unconscious processes.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The unconscious mind has captivated ancient writers as well as current cognitive scientists. It is clear that the unconscious mind is real and demands further inquiry. However, the real puzzle is why there is something beyond these unconscious processes. Why do conscious sensory experiences arise after the brain decodes sensory inputs? We do not have satisfying answers to these questions yet, but they are finally considered valid areas of scientific inquiry (Pang, 2023b, 2023c). The unconscious may have seemed esoteric and mysterious, but I would suggest that unconscious processes are what we should expect from a biological machine. The true mystery lies in the tiny sliver of ice above the water.