hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn 15 scary facts about
your unconscious mind now let's begin number 1 the face on Mars in 1976 a NASA satellite discovered
something shocking on Mars buried amongst the rock formations the satellite captured an eerie
gray face staring back into the camera but it wasn't really a face it was just a Mesa
but from the right angle it looked kind of like a pair of eyes a nose and a mouth so why do so
many people insist they see a face on the planet's surface the face on Mars is a classic example of
pareidolia a mistake that our unconscious makes on a regular basis when we see something that follows
a vaguely familiar pattern while our brain just jumps the gun it fills in the blanks that's why
you see animals in the clouds people lurking in the shadows or the infamous rabbit hiding in the
moon our pareidolia is especially sensitive to faces which is why you see them on the sides of
buildings and the front bumpers of cars what pareidolia isn't just a visual illusion if
you've ever heard whispers coming from your noisy air-conditioner then your brain has fallen for the
exact same unconscious trick no one was actually talking just like there isn't really a face on
Mars but the pattern was close enough to fool your unconscious mind number two imagination blindness
try to imagine an elephants picture it in as much detail as you possibly can the size the color okay
maybe it's walking around or lifting its trunk if you can generate this kind of mental image
your imagination is working like it's supposed to you're able to conjure up imaginary objects
based on past knowledge and experience even if you can't see an elephant standing in front of
you you can still create an accurate vision in your head but not everyone's brain can do this
in fact some people develop a condition called a Fantasia which stops your imagination from
creating those mental images if someone with a Fantasia tried to imagine an elephant well nothing
would happen their mind would just go blank number three speaking through your body your unconscious
communicates with your conscious through all kinds of different avenues it talks through your dreams
your random thoughts and sometimes changes in your body stomach problems for example are a
common sign of deeper unconscious issues even if you're conscious thinks nothing's wrong you're
unconscious might be telling a different story number four snap judgments your brain makes very
quick decisions when meeting new people but how quick are they and how accurate are these choices
in the long run two researchers from Stanford asked the same pair of questions so they gathered
a group of participants and measured their snap judgments at different intervals it turns out
it only took one or two seconds for people to judge everything from success to intelligence
it doesn't matter if you know nothing beforehand all you need is that tiny interval to make all
kinds of assumptions about someone's character what's even more surprising is that these snap
judgments are usually rights the vast majority of the time your assumptions about the people
around you are spot-on but here's the bad news no one has we figured out the perfect recipe for a
positive snap judgment all we know is that things like good personal hygiene and a warm smile will
nudge you in the right direction number five knowing our limits do you stare at your feet
when you walk or look at your fingers whenever you pick something up of course not most of the
time you don't give your extremities more than a passing glance that's because your unconscious has
memorized the physical boundaries of your body it's created something neurologists call a body
image which helps you move seamlessly through space and perform complicated mechanical tasks
but sometimes your body and your body image don't match this happens to many people who undergo one
or more amputations they experience something called phantom limb syndrome basically their
brain thinks their missing limb is still there even if it isn't it's very common for phantom
limbs to move around like normal hands or feets bill points they'll wave they'll even grab on
to things in the world around you these phantom limbs can stick around for months or even years
because even though your body has changed shape your unconscious is still clinging to the past
number six understanding the presence unlike your conscious which understands the past in
the future you're unconscious lives exclusively in the present it's consistently focused on
what's currently happening and nothing else now that doesn't mean your unconscious doesn't store
information from the past or weigh in on decisions for the future but making sense of time requires
more complex thinking and reasoning skills which your unconscious just can't do on its own number
seven an illogical brain in the same vein your unconscious doesn't really understand logic either
it relies on instincts and desires to govern its behavior sometimes that can be helpful but to
navigate our complicated lives we need something much more thoughtful at the hell luckily we've
got our conscious mind to make sense of our unconscious desires your unconscious is vital
to your survival but without your conscious you wouldn't stand a chance at living a normal life
number eight reverse dreaming when you fall asleep the conscious part of your brain turns off but
your subconscious remains active and alert it's storing memories and running maintenance that's
why you end up experiencing this weird collage of familiar images and feelings in your dreams but
what if the opposite happened can your conscious stay awake while you're unconscious goes to bed
not exactly but we can get close sleep paralysis is a unique state where your conscious brain is
aware while the rest of your body is stuck in a sleep-like state in other words you can freely
move around your mind almost like a lucid daydream number nine you're unconscious clock have you ever
woken up right before your alarm goes off well that's because your unconscious mind is still
keeping track of the time while you sleep but your unconscious doesn't count down the minutes
or seconds it has a built in biological clock that wakes you up after a certain period of time
but that's not even the most amazing part your unconscious is extraordinarily accurate a group
of researchers wanted to see if your unconscious could still keep track even when it was tricked
into believing it had woken up at the right time to do this they told people they get them up at
9:00 a.m. then at 6:00 a.m. they woke participants up and told them it was 9:00 in the morning but
their biological clocks didn't change at all even when you're conscious gets tricked your
unconscious might see right through it number ten unconscious competence each time you learn a new
skill you go through four stages of confidence okay let's say you want to learn how to throw a
frisbee at first you may not even realize you can't throw a frisbee it's just something you
never tried before but when you finally give it a shot you discover that you don't know how which
brings you to step two you're consciously bad at it but you want to get better so you practice and
practice until you can throw a frisbee pretty well when you try your best that means you're
at the third step you are consciously good at it most people think the learning process stops
there but there's actually one more level called unconscious competence that means you're good at
something without even thinking in other words mastering any skill starts and stops with your
unconscious number 11 the internet in your head how much information can your brain actually store
using over 85 billion nerve cells your brain has been collecting and storing information for your
entire life you might not have access to all of it but your subconscious actually holds as much
information as the Internet did in 2007 nowadays the Internet's gotten quite a bit more complicated
but from 1983 to 2007 the entire world was using an online network that was smaller than a single
human brain number 12 flexible truths your unconscious is pretty gullible almost like
a little kid instead of asking questions and searching for mistakes it pretty much believes
whatever you tell it if something slips past your conscious then your subconscious will take it as
a fact it'll store it in your brain and start incorporating that detail into your personality
that's usually how irrational fears like phobias come into being something crazy slips through but
your unconscious believes every word of it number thirteen a language of metaphors your unconscious
doesn't speak in the same way we do instead of using words your unconscious communicates through
images feelings and ideas just imagine one of those riddles where you use images to figure out
the mystery word your unconscious is a lot like that which means your dreams are essentially one
big coded message from your unconscious mind number fourteen unconscious fatigue physical
exhaustion is another way our unconscious controls our behavior if it wants you to change your focus
it'll drain your energy or make you hmm yawn so even if you think you're making conscious
decisions your unconscious might be controlling you from the shadows number fifteen understanding
the world when do you think your worldview changes the most our conscious shifts many times during
our later years because it's almost constantly changing throughout your life but your unconscious
changes the most when you're young most of your unconscious growth happens between the
ages of 2 & 7 in other words your unconscious mind develops through the eyes of a child hey thank you
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