The New Unconscious [Paperback]

Over the past two decades, a new picture of the cognitive unconscious has emerged from a variety of disciplines that are broadly part of cognitive science. According to this picture, unconscious processes seem to be capable of doing many things that were thought to require intention, deliberation, and conscious awareness. Moreover, they accomplish these things without the conflict and drama of the psychoanalytic unconscious. These processes range from complex information processing, through goal pursuit and emotions, to cognitive control and self-regulation.

This collection of 20 original chapters by leading researchers examines the cognitive unconscious from social, cognitive, and neuroscientific viewpoints, presenting some of the most important developments at the heart of this new picture of the unconscious.

The volume, the first book in the new Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience series, will be an important resource on the cognitive unconscious for researchers in cognitive psychology and neuroscience.

In the past several decades a revolution has occurred in how psychologists view the unconscious. The Freudian view of an infantile, primitive, unconscious has proved to be far too limited; it turns out that a great deal of our mental lives, much of it highly sophisticated and adaptive, occurs behind the curtain of consciousness. Indeed, as illustrated in this fine book, the boundary separating nonconscious from conscious processing is constantly being expanded, to the point where some are questioning whether consciousness serves much of a function at all.The New Unconsciousis a must read for anyone interested in these intriguing developments. Most of the key players have contributed to this volume, and their chapters are fascinating reports from the front lines of a true revolution. --Timothy D. Wilson, Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia, and author ofStrangers to Ourselves

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