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Additional evidence obtained in Experiments 4 and 5 suggests that unconscious thought leads to clearer, more polarized, and more integrated representations in memory. Throughout the experiments, unconscious thinkers made the best decisions. In the unconscious thought condition, participants were distracted for a few minutes and then indicated their decision. In the conscious thought condition, participants could think about the decision for a few minutes.

Some participants had to make a decision immediately after being presented with the options. In Experiments 1-3, participants were presented with a complex decision problem in which they had to choose between various alternatives, each with multiple attributes. Conversely, unconscious thought was expected to be highly effective. Because of the low processing capacity of consciousness, conscious thought was hypothesized to be maladaptive when making complex decisions. The role of unconscious and conscious thought in decision making was investigated in 5 experiments.

Blink the power of thinking without thinking book