ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some evidence for the existence of the adaptive unconscious. Research has continued to support the existence of unconscious learning. Outsourcing the work of conscious attention is not the only role for the adaptive unconscious. Timothy Wilson argues that it also provides with what he terms a psychological immune system. A central concept for understanding the adaptive unconscious is that of automaticity, which pertains to psychological processes that run their course without requiring exertion on part. The chapter also considers evidence in favor of the phenomenon and its types, namely, unconscious learning, unconscious emoting, and unconscious goal-setting. The phenomenon of somatic markers blurs the distinction between introspection and extrospection. Implicit attitudes (including implicit bias as a special case) are types of bias that, if real, would not be open to introspection. One can harbor implicit bias while sincerely denying any such attitude.
