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what do we make of this thing we call the self?

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the thing that we call the self, the conscious me, the thing that we think is running the show, may not be running as much of the show as we think

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we may be attributing much more power and control to this concept than it really deserves

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this idea goes back to pre-modern psychology

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Freud: the self is controlled in large part by unconscious forces

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specific ideas that Freud came up with

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although Freud was skeptical of the power of the self, he wasn't skeptical enough

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had a three part model:

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id: harbors dark, animal forces

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ego: in the middle, the self, attributed independent power to it

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super-ego: conscience

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today, many models of the mind have no place for the self at all

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the modern history of doubt about the power of the self

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the split brain experiments

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have very strange results

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two halves of their brains have been disconnected

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to control seizures, had their corpus callosum severed

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at first it didn't have much noticeable effect except to control the seizures

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1960s: Michael Gazzaniga

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pioneered studies in learning and understanding split brained patients and how their brains work

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information from right side of the visual field enters the left side of the brain and vice versa

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so its possible for information to be put in one side of the brain which just goes there and doesn't go to the other side of the brain

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1. flashed word experiment

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they would flash a word in one side, patient would say, "I don't see a word"

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in most people its the left hemisphere that houses the language faculties

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the left half of the brain does the talking

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the right hemisphere controls the left hand, the left hemisphere controls the right hand

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if you flash an instruction such as "walk" in the left field of vision so it goes to the right brain

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the person will get up and walk

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if you ask the person where he is going

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the left brain doesn't know about this, but it tends to come up with an answer, e.g. I'm going to get something to drink, and apparently will believe it

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2. experiment

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presented to the left hemisphere an image of a chicken claw

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right hemisphere got image of wintery scene with a lot of snow

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let both hands choose from another of pictures

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hand associated with the left hemisphere chose the chicken

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hand associated with the right hemisphere chose the snow shovel

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they ask him way:

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the chicken claw goes with the chicken

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you need a shovel to clean out the chicken shed

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so the left brain in explaining why he has a shovel has come up with a story which is coherent, it's just not true

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take away from these experiments

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1. suggest that the conscious self is capable of greatly overestimating its influence it is exerting on behavior

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2. suggest that the conscious self can promulgate and apparently believe wildly untrue stories about what is actually true of the world

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we say suggests because these were not anatomically anatomically normal people

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we are not seeing the conscious self work as it normally functions

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how to study dual-brain effects on anatomically normal people

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people are motivated to do things and come up with stories about why they are motivate to do things

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study: pantyhose

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Nisbett and Wilson

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four pair of pantyhose

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people had a strong tendency to choose the pair on the far right

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the people were not aware of this

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they would make up reasons why the one on the right were the same model

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they were straining to come up with a reason for what they have done

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subliminal techniques

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does not enter the conscious mind but influences behavior

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flash information on screen very fast

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study: squeeze

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here is a hand grip, the harder you squeeze it the more money you are going to make

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each time randomly determined if reward would be a penny or a pound

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before they grabbed grip, a pattern would be shown, then shown pattern

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when pound was shown subliminally, they squeezed harder

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brain scan

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part associated with emotion and motivation

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when it became aware, brain region became more active when pound was shown than penny

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scans were same for subliminal showing

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conclusion: same brain area is more active whether conscious of it or not

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"consistently, the same basal fore-brain region underpinned subliminal and conscious motivation"

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experiment: story pictures

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pictures tell coherent story

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man gets up, goes to work, etc.

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then show same pictures with more added

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ask if pictures are new

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some are very similar, e.g. different picture of him driving to work

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some completely different, e.g. playing golf

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normally anatomically

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easily reject obviously pictures which were not there

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and will include some that are slightly different

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split brain patients

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right brain is strictly accurate

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right brain is about detailed truth

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sees the trees instead of the forest

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left brain is more about overall plot line

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left brain is responsible for telling stories to the world

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left brain: the main thing is to have a story to tell

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left brain: tells stories about ourselves

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the left brain is capable of buying into massive fabrications