A Theory of Mind

The critical area of the man’s mind evaluated the woman’s attention and, comparing it to the knowns in the man’s subconscious, rejected the information as being unacceptable.

The Conscious Mind

The conscious mind is that part of the mind that actively functions during waking and which directs behavior in response to the environment. It accepts incoming information and retains it in active memory for about an hour and a half before sending it to the critical area for evaluation. The conscious mind receives all of the input from the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. Because the barrage of incoming information is so intense, the conscious mind must filter it to avoid being overwhelmed.

The filters that the conscious mind uses protect it and allow it to continue to function without shutting down from the overload. Those filters allow the conscious mind to generalize, delete and distort incoming information based upon prior experience and depending upon the memories stored in the subconscious mind. If there is indeed too much incoming information, however, the conscious mind can shut down to protect itself, and the subconscious mind will take over. The resultant state can be normal sleep. If the person is not asleep, but experiences a conscious shutdown, the resultant state is hypnosis.

Our conscious mind allows us to interface with our environment and is very essential to our survival in the world. It allows us to be interactive in the present and to predict or anticipate our behavior in the future. It is also referred to as the objective or rational mind, since it employs reason and logic in its interactions with the external world.

Summary of the Theory of the Mind

Your mind is one entity, but its functions are divided into four main divisions: The primitive mind, the subconscious mind, the critical mind, and the conscious mind. The conscious and subconscious minds are often referred to as the objective and subjective minds.

The primitive mind guards the body functions that must proceed automatically and without interruption. It is the repository of the two fears that we are born with: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. The primitive mind contains basic survival memory that must be in place at birth to ensure that we will be able to grow and thrive.

The subconscious contains all of the memories of all of the experiences and sensations that we have been exposed to from conception.

The subconscious mind, or subjective mind, functions when the conscious mind is in abeyance, as in hypnosis or during sleep. It works from its vast stored memory, accepting suggestions from the conscious mind after they have passed through the critical mind. The subconscious does not rely upon sensory input to function. It is the part of the mind where our intuition and creativity are located. Its purpose is to protect and to preserve us in all situations, whether we are acting consciously or not. Everything we need to know about ourselves is present in our subconscious mind.

The critical mind acts as a filter and judge, interfacing between the conscious and the subconscious minds. Information coming from the conscious mind is stored temporarily in the critical mind pending its acceptance by the subconscious mind. Once accepted by the subconscious, it is categorized as a known or unknown, as pleasure or pain, as positive or negative. The critical mind becomes active between the ages of eight and ten years, after enough stored memory has been accumulated in our subconscious mind to enable us to draw conclusions and operate from a frame of reference.

The conscious mind, or objective mind, is rational and operates using logic and reason. It uses input from the five senses to function. It acts as your guide and director while you are in contact with your environment. It allows you to make generalizations from your observations. It allows you to derive learning from all of the sources of incoming information that you are exposed to.

You can think of your mind as similar to your computer (or the other way around). Your primitive mind is the BIOS or machine memory; the subconscious is the ROM; the critical mind is the operating system; the conscious mind is the RAM.