We’ve always been told that we shouldn’t let our emotions cloud our judgment, but a new study suggests that our emotions may be more intelligent than we originally thought.
It’s being called the “emotional oracle effect.” Participants in the study, led by Michael Pham at Columbia Business School, made better choices if they followed their emotions. The study involved picking things like American Idol winners or the outcome of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. According to Wired, the reason for this “involves processing power.” That is, the fact that the unconscious brain processes huge amounts of information alongside the conscious brain, whether you’re aware of it or not.
It’s true: Our subconscious mind is constantly at work, gathering sensory data almost behind our backs. It sorts through that data and allows only the necessary bits to seep into our conscious thought process.
It’s one of the reasons we sleep, why we dream. Our conscious minds wouldn’t be able to cope with so much information, so our subconscious keeps it hidden away, sorted in special boxes to be used when it’s needed.
Extra Sensory, Or Unconscious Knowledge?
But that information is still there, somewhere, and I wonder if it isn’t responsible for what we call “extra sensory perception” or psychic abilities.
Think about it: Those moments when you get an odd “feeling.” When you randomly turn on the television and find it’s playing your favorite show, or experience a moment of clairvoyance by accurately predicting the future.
Are these actually psychic occurrences? Or is it just all that data in your subconscious mind revealing itself?
Perhaps you skimmed over some TV listings and saw that your favorite show would be on, but you didn’t consciously think about it.
Or your subconscious mind picked up on the various little “clues” that something was going to happen, and finally manifested in a prophetic “vision.”
It’s an interesting possibility.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about how the mind works. Regardless of whether or not this new study proves anything, it’s still worth considering how “normal” processes of the mind may be responsible for seemingly paranormal abilities.