91 - The Unconscious Knows First

In 1997, Antoine Bechara conducted an experiment using a gambling game involving decks of cards. Participants received $2,000 of fake money and were told to gain as much money as they can through this game.

The Unconscious Knows First

The Game

The game itself involved four decks of cards on the table. Participants would turn over the cards one at a time, and would continue to do so until told to stop. They didn't know when the game would end, and they weren't told the rules initially.  Each time a card was turned, they  were told if they gained or lost money.

The Hidden Factors

The decks were split up into two categories; decks A and B, and decks C and D. Decks A and B would earn you $100, decks C and D would earn you $50 However, cards in A and B would make you lose a lot more money if you lost, up to $1,250. The maximum loss from decks C and D was around $100 Decks A and B would produce a net loss if participants kept using them, and vice versa for C and D

Outcomes

Most participants started with decks A and B, yet shifted to C and D until the game ended. However, when asked why, many couldn't come up with an answer. Each participant was connected to a skin conductance sensor to measure their skin conductance response, which would measure their response when they played the cards. When playing from decks A and B, their SCR readings were elevated, showing they subconsciously knew these decks were "dangerous". These responses would often happen long before the conscious brain caught up and switched to decks C and D, demonstrating that our unconscious is much faster in analyzing dangerous situations.