American Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
2015; 2(3): 98-100
Published online May 30, 2015 (http://www.openscienceonline.com/journal/ajpbs)
Subconscious Vs. Unconscious Learning: A Short
Review of the Terms
Mehrdad Rezaee1, *, Majid Farahian2
1
2
Department of Foreign Languages, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Department of ELT, College of Literature and Humanities, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran
Email address
[email protected] (M. Rezaee), [email protected] (M. Farahian)
To cite this article
Mehrdad Rezaee, Majid Farahian. Subconscious Vs. Unconscious Learning: A Short Review of the Terms. American Journal of Psychology
and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 3, 2015, pp. 98-100.
Abstract
The issue of consciousness in its different forms has raised many controversies among scholars, both in definition and its role
in learning, especially second/foreign language learning. In this article, an attempt has been made to have a short review of the
terms ‘Unconscious’ Vs. ‘Subconscious’ both from scholarly and non-scholarly points of view and get the scholars’ idea about
the terms together with a review of the role of these two terms in second/foreign language learning and the difference each
would make in the outcome.
Keywords
Subconscious, Unconscious, Foreign Language Learning, Second Language Learning
1. Introduction
The concept of consciousness has been the subject of hot
debates. Because of the illusive nature of the construct, the
attempt to substitute the construct in cognitive psychology
with some other ones has not yield fruitful results. To shed
some light on the nature of the concept and in order to
present a vivid picture of consciousness in education,
especially foreign language learning, one has to be familiar
with the scholarly and non-scholarly definitions of the terms
‘Unconscious’ Vs. ‘Subconscious’.
2. Non-Scholarly Definition of
‘Unconscious’
First of all, the term ‘Unconscious’ should be defined.
Various definitions have been given for it. In the very first
place, Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary
(1999) defines the word ‘unconscious’ as follows, “A
Psychoanalytic term; the part of the mind containing psychic
material that is only rarely accessible to awareness but that
has a pronounced influence on behavior”. Too, according to
Macmillan English dictionary (2008), the term ‘unconscious’
is defined as, “In a condition similar to sleep in which you do
not see, feel, or think, usually because you are injured”.
Meanwhile, according to Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English (2009), the word ‘unconscious’ means,
“The part of your mind in which there are thoughts and
feelings that you do not realize you have”.
3. Scholarly Definition ‘Unconscious’
Looking at the issue of ‘unconscious’ from scholars’
viewpoint, we see that Malim & Birch (1998, p. 204), define
it by saying, “Unconscious implies a total lack of awareness.
For example, when you are anesthetized, knocked out in the
boxing ring or through an accident, you are unconscious”.
Other psychologists, however, may not agree with this
definition of ‘unconscious’. For example, Freud (1933, cited
in Malim & Birch, 1998, p. 205) viewed the unconscious
mind as “the repository for repressed memories”.
So, as it can be seen, most of the scholarly and nonscholarly definitions consider the phrase, ‘lack of awareness,
feeling, ability, or thought’ or emphasize the expression,
‘repressed memories’.
4. Non-Scholarly Definition of
‘Subconscious’
As to the term ‘subconscious’, again, it can be seen that
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines it
American Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences 2015; 2(3): 98-100
by saying that, “existing or operating in the mind beneath or
beyond consciousness; the subconscious self”. In the
meantime, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,
defines the word ‘subconscious’ as “feelings, desires, and
thoughts that are hidden in one’s mind and affect his behavior,
but the person does not know that he has them”. Meanwhile,
Macmillan English dictionary defines ‘subconscious’ as:
“Relating to thoughts or feelings that you have but do not
think about, or do not realize you have”.
5. Scholarly Definition of
‘Subconscious’
Looking at the term from specialists’ viewpoint, it can be
seen that, Malim & Birch (1998, p. 205), define it as “one
level below conscious awareness”.
So, we can conclude that in almost all scholarly and nonscholarly definitions, the term ‘subconscious’ is considered
‘below consciousness’.
6. Scholars’ Ideas about
‘Unconscious’
As to any other issue, different scholars have got different
ideas about the term ‘Unconscious’. As an example, Malim
& Birch (1998) state that,
The term ‘Subconscious’ is a metaphor for the (without
training) uncontrollable functions of the brain, such as heart
beat, signals to increase chemical output; it effectively runs
the body for you, as well as coordinating learned movements
such as riding a bike or driving a car, the ‘subconscious’
mind is thought to be ‘based’ in the brain-stem (p. 206).
However, Tek (2007) takes one step further and stipulates
that
The truth is that everything that you have in your life is
because of your ‘subconscious mind’. The ‘subconscious
mind’ is the single most powerful part of the human mind.
Whatever put into mind through subconscious process will
have a better retention (p. 4).
In the meantime, he states that “The term ‘subconscious’ is
very complex and all-knowing. It is actually the divine part
of you inside but it is under your control. It does not argue, it
does not judge, it just does” (p. 5).
And last but not least, Taylor (2007, p. 1), has the opinion
that, “Without an ‘unconscious’ awareness or ‘subconscious’
learning dynamic, there exists no basis to psychology”.
7. ‘Unconscious’ Vs. ‘Subconscious’
Learning
Looking at the issue from another perspective, according
to Dewey (2007), psychologists have evidence that, learning
starts as ‘unconscious’ activity. Dewey did some research and
concluded that learning typically begins with ‘unconscious’
processes. This sounds like a contradiction of the idea that
99
conscious control is required for learning something new, but
not if an unconscious phase of learning occurs before the
phase in which to-be-learned material is grasped in
consciousness. The pre-conscious phase is called implicit
learning (whether or not it is followed by conscious
awareness). So, according to Dewey (2007), the transition
from ‘unconscious’ knowledge to conscious knowledge and
then automaticity showed up as a progression of changes in
the brain scans.
However, some scholars consider ‘unconscious” learning
at the second level of learning after conscious learning in
human life. As an example, Smith (1999), believes that, “At
one extreme lie those unintentional and usually accidental
learning events which occur continuously as we walk through
life. Next comes incidental learning-‘unconscious’ learning
through acquisition methods which occurs in the course of
some other activity”.
In the meantime, Fisher (2010) believes that there is
always a four-stage model of learning. And a learner or
trainee always begins at stage 1. ‘unconscious incompetence’,
and ends at stage 4. ‘unconscious competence’. The total
stages are as follows:
1. ‘Unconscious incompetence’: The person is not aware
of the existence or relevance of the skill area. 2. Conscious
incompetence: The person becomes aware of the existence
and relevance of the skill. 3. Conscious competence: The
person achieves ‘conscious competence’ in a skill when they
can perform it reliably at will. 4. ‘Unconscious competence’:
The skill becomes so practiced that it enters the unconscious
parts of the brain-it becomes ‘second nature’. (pp. 2-3)
Turning to the issue of subconscious learning, Fregger
(2002) believes that inspiration, insight, and realization all
spring from the ‘subconscious’. He further explains that the
relationship between the ‘subconscious’ and the conscious,
are extremely codependent, and the ‘subconscious’ is
responsible for all we perceive, and the basic mechanism by
which the subconscious provides insight, realization, and
inspiration to the conscious mind. In the meantime,
‘subconscious mind’ retrieves all of the data supplied by our
five senses (and quite possibly data received from other
sources presently unknown to science) it then decides what
action must take place, or what information must be passed
on to the conscious mind.
Looking at the issues of ‘subconscious’ & ‘unconscious’
specifically from the viewpoint of language learning, one can
talk about suggestopedia because among language teaching
methods, it was ‘suggestopedia’ which made use of
subconscious mind. Its proponents such as Mihăilă-Lică
(2003) believe that suggestopedia is a teaching system which
is similar in some ways to the hypnotic process attempting to
send a message to our ‘subconscious mind’ but differs in that
it tries to send knowledge to the subconscious mind.
Meanwhile, Richards & Rogers (2001) deem that in
approaches like CLT, students will gain a better ability to
communicate since there is no conscious and direct attention
to language components, and students try to pick the
language subconsciously. In other words, they stipulate that,
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Mehrdad Rezaee and Majid Farahian: Subconscious Vs. Unconscious Learning: A Short Review of the Terms
“In CLT, learners are responsible to cooperatively create an
environment in which subconscious learning is enhanced
through real communication and interaction”(p. 162).
In the meantime, Krashen (1982, 1988) makes a distinction
between subconscious and conscious types of language
learning by saying,
Adults have two independent systems for developing
ability in second languages, subconscious language
acquisition and conscious language learning, and that these
systems are interrelated in a definite way: subconscious
acquisition is a very different process, facilitates the
acquisition of rules at a subconscious level, and appears to be
far more important. (1988, p. 1)
Too, Davies and Pearse (2000) are in line with Krashen's
(1988) distinction between subconscious and conscious types
of language learning by providing a definition for second
language acquisition when they state that “The process of
learning a language subconsciously while being exposed to it
and using it in communication is generally referred to as
‘language acquisition’” (p. 105).
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