This research introduces a new theoretical perspective (termed the Adaptive Processing Perspective) that reexamines how consumers should think before making decisions and the optimal outcomes that result. New insights into conscious (“careful deliberation”), unconscious (“sleeping on it”), and intuitive (“going with your gut”) thought processes are provided. Across four studies, empirical evidence demonstrates that consumers can make significantly better decisions by thinking more about routine choices, using their intuition for occasional purchase decisions, and distracting themselves before making major purchase decisions. Specifically, in study 1, increased conscious thought optimized routine decision making due to increases in openness to information. In study 2, consumers using intuition optimized an occasional purchase decision by focusing attention on relevant information. Study 3 demonstrated unconscious thought to be optimal for consumers when making a major purchase decision via their engagement in associative processing. Lastly, study 4 provided further support for the Adaptive Processing Perspective by manipulating the decision setting (i.e., routine, limited, extensive) across a common product and replicating the earlier study results. Several theoretical and practical advances to the domains of information processing and consumer decision making are offered and discussed.

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Des recherches récentes suggèrent que, lors de décisions complexes, les individus font de meilleurs choix, non pas lorsqu’ils essayent d’évaluer les avantages et les inconvénients de chaque option, mais plutôt lorsqu’ils réalisent une tâche de distraction pendant quelques minutes avant de choisir. Cette amélioration de la prise de décision consécutive à la distraction a été interprétée comme une preuve de la mise en œuvre de la « pensée inconsciente » au cours de la période de distraction. À ce jour, une centaine d’études ont examiné ce phénomène. La moitié d’entre-elles l’a reproduit. Les travaux de cette thèse contribuent à ce débat de deux façons. Premièrement, nous avons identifié trois variables qui modèrent la qualité des décisions prises après une période de réflexion ou de distraction. Deuxièmement, nous avons utilisé deux paradigmes issus des modèles duels de mémoire pour examiner les processus mnésiques qui sous-tendent ces modes de décisions. Les sept expériences menées ont montré que l’efficacité de la réflexion est modulée par des variables, comme le matériel ou le format de présentation des options, qui ont un impact sur la récupération de souvenirs précis. La qualité des décisions prises après distraction est modulée par des variables, comme la complexité de la tâche de distraction ou encore le format de présentation des options, qui ont un impact sur la récupération de souvenirs « gist » qui sont vagues et catégoriels. Ces études suggèrent que l’accessibilité à des souvenirs précis détermine l’efficacité de nos réflexions conscientes tandis qu'une période de distraction, lorsqu'elle est utile à la décision, favorise la récupération de souvenirs gist. / Recent research suggests that when faced with a choice between several alternatives described with a large number of attributes, people make better choices if they do not consciously ponder over the alternatives but rather perform a distraction task for a few minutes before choosing. The improvement of decision making after distraction has been interpreted as evidence that “unconscious thought” occurs during the distraction period. So far, over a hundred studies investigated this phenomenon. About half of them replicated the effect. The research reported here contributes to this debate on two grounds. First, it highlights three factors which moderate the quality of the decisions made after a period of conscious deliberation or distraction. Second, we used two dual-memory process paradigms to gain insight on the memory processes underlying each decision mode. The seven experiments showed that the efficiency of conscious deliberation is moderated by factors, such as the presentation material or the presentation format of the alternatives, which affect the retrieval of precise memories. The quality of decision made after distraction is moderated by factors, such as the difficulty of the distraction task or the presentation format of the alternatives, which affect the retrieval of gist memories. Together these studies suggest that conscious deliberation efficiency is dependent upon the availability of precise memories whereas when a distraction period improves decision making, it also enhances the retrieval of gist memories.

Subject of this work is human mind. In first section there are described important mechanisms, on which mind operates. Second section is devoted for description of unconscious mind and weaknesses it has. Some of the phenomenons are tested by an experiment and results are in the end of related chapter. The goal of this work is to create sumary of functioning of human mind, mostly of unconscious part and to test mistakes people are making in their judgement.