How do we consciously make judgments?

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by jayfoxpox, Apr 29, 2013.

  1. #1 jayfoxpox, Apr 29, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2013
    There are trillions of neurons making up our brain interconnected in an stupendously complex structure. When I make a judgement that chocolate is better than vanilla I recall perhaps the degree of enjoyment I got from previous experiences of the two flavors. We know that recalling is at a subconscious level . We know that the degree of enjoyment is determined at a subconscious level that could be influenced by the sensitivity of your taste buds that might have a stronger affinity to the chemical that leads to the perception of chocolate. Even the appearance of the container that it's held in has an influence as shown in this study, having hot chocolate in an orange cup usually tastes better than other cup colors.
    Important Science Of The Season: Hot Chocolate Tastes Better In An Orange Cup | Popular Science

    If it purely a conscious decision on what flavor you prefer then the color should have no correlation with relative frequency.

    We know from cognitive psychology that some incoming information is more analyzed depending on which ear and also its coherent message when presented with a dichotic listening task.

    So this must mean that the subconsciousness determines what flavor we like. Now to tie this to beliefs . Is the judgement really conscious or do the two options merely have microjudgements that are out of our awareness and the option with the higher frequency and also passes a certain threshold lead to the feeling that one option is better than the other in turn making a judgement. Perhaps it's as Daniel Denett suggest as fame in the brain? Maybe the particular main idea and the idea of a option within the idea is more famous , having more lasting influence. Perhaps there is competition and the one that produces the strongest response is the decision that appears in our consciousness. giving an illusion that we made a conscious judgement. A mix of temporal processes that results in various temporary decisions.

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPGvu8lT8HY[/ame]
     
  2. In terms of preference, our conscious mind does little more than relate subconscious desires to bodily actions. Most of what we are is subconscious, the conscious mind is just the way we process and queue the thoughts that we are presented. Rational decision comes when we are presented with different options by our subconscious and then use memory recall and logic to sort these options into the most preferential for us.

    So, in answer to your thread title, we make conscious judgements based on the information that our subconscious presents to us. We do not necessarily recall everything relevant to the situation, only that which has the strongest psychological connection. Thus we can make the wrong decision by prioritising incoherent beliefs or 'complexes' which are reinforced through an excess of a certain kind of information. In the example of ice cream flavours, or eating out at a restaurant perhaps, that which you have more positive experience of will filter strongest into your consciousness. I am more likely to order the same meal, or the flavour I have most positive memory of, because it is preferential to processing unfamiliar information.
     

  3. I like what you've said so far. But, how does our subconscious know what information it needs to present to us?

    Perhaps calling it subconscious is a bit of a misnomer. Unknown conscious makes more sense. Greater consciousness may be more accurate if it's doing all this conscious leg work so that our ego just has to make a choice.
     

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