Strangers To Ourselves By Timothy D. Wilson Summary

The concept of the unconsciousness was introduced to the masses by Freud, but the field of psychology has redefined it. In ‘Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconsciousness’, University of Virginia psychology professor Timothy D. Wilson tries to explain why we do not quite understand ourselves as individuals. He looks at contemporary psychology research on the adaptive unconsciousness to uncover the reasons why our emotions, judgements and feelings are still a mystery to us. This is an engaging and easy read for anyone who wishes to explore the untapped areas of themselves from a psychological point of view.

Wilson’s book attempts to answer two cardinal questions: Why don’t we know ourselves well? How can we know ourselves better?

His main argument is that “people possess a powerful, sophisticated adaptive unconscious that is crucial for survival” (Preface) because it operates in the shadows, out of site and out of mind. However, we have no access to it, and thus, we find ourselves lacking this part of our self-knowledge. Unlike Freud who emphasizes deep introspection to understand oneself, Wilson argues that that strategy reveals only the things we think we want to believe and not the entire picture . Hence, we must figure out other ways to get to know ourselves better.

In chapters one to three, Wilson talks about the idea of the adaptive unconscious in comparison to the Freudian unconscious. Freud described the nature of the unconscious as primitive and animalistic, whereas consciousness was more rational and sophisticated. He believed that conscious thought was far superior than the unconscious, but Wilson and other researchers in the field think otherwise. Wilson posits that the adaptive unconscious has a larger role to play in our lives that than we think, for example, initiating quick action and setting goals. Furthermore, Wilson states that the adaptive