unconscious process
- noun
- /ʌnˈkɒnʃəs ˈprəʊsɛs/
- Specialized
- Understanding how unconscious processes impact our choices can help us make more informed decisions.
But another level we can't choose, as we're driven by underlying unconscious processes.
- But another level we can't choose, as we're driven by underlying unconscious processes.
Examples
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It is an automatic and unconscious process that allows individuals to resist the destabilizing effect of gravity.
Academic text (1999) -
But evidence shows we don't really know and that there are unconscious processes at work in our decision-making.
Academic text (2006) -
It's a totally unconscious process, Eddie.
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The objective is to gain some measure of consciousness about an unconscious process.
Blog text (1) -
We may be able to consciously reflect on decisions arising from our unconscious processes.
Academic text (2006) -
But the efficient, unconscious processes that make belief resistant to change can also put change outside the reach of direct and conscious efforts to effect change.
Blog text (1) -
If attention is used in conscious or unconscious processes in making decisions, remembering, evaluating, etc., then this much is removed from the awareness of the sense experience.
Blog text (7) -
The development of schemas and their retrieval from memory represent an unconscious process through which past perceptions influence the interpretation of the current situation (e.g., Kihlstrom, 1990).
Academic text (1998) -
Many behaviors we exhibit throughout the day are guided by unconscious processes that we are not fully aware of.
-
He realized that his favorite hobbies are influenced by unconscious processes, driving him to pursue certain activities over others.
Synonyms
A quick movement your body makes without thinking, for example pulling your hand from something hot
Actions done without thinking, often during a seizure or while sleepwalking
A response to something you do not know is happening
Noticing and reacting to pictures or sounds without being aware of them
How Conscious
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositionally built from 'unconscious' (unaware) + 'process' (a sequence of steps), so the meaning 'a mental process occurring without awareness' follows directly from the constituents. This ADJ+N pattern is a common, cross-linguistically transparent way to label mental states, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The noun unconscious process creates the image of a process as a set of steps working unconsciously, like a machine running in the dark or someone doing things on 'autopilot' without notice. So, it means 'a mental process that happens without a person being aware'.