How does your mind store information you can’t currently recall? What happens to thoughts that are too disturbing for you to face directly?
In his book The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud describes three layers of the mind: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. These layers differ based on how easily you can access the thoughts within them—from your immediate awareness to deeply hidden feelings.
Read more to learn how these mental layers shape your daily experiences and influence behaviors in ways you might not even realize.
The 3 Layers of the Mind
Freud conceives of three layers of the mind: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious. The differences between these layers lies in your ability to access the thoughts and feelings they contain. Let’s look at each layer.
1) The Conscious Mind
According to Freud, your conscious mind is your waking mind, encompassing your current awareness and thoughts. This is the part of your psyche that you actively engage with and can readily access. For instance, as you read this paragraph, your understanding of these words and your immediate thoughts about them are part of your conscious mind. Similarly, when you deliberately recall a memory or solve a problem, you’re operating within the realm of consciousness.
| What Is Consciousness? Since Freud’s time, neuroscientists and philosophers have continued trying to understand why we experience consciousness—how the physical processes of the brain result in subjective experience. They refer to this as “the hard problem of consciousness.” Here, we’ll briefly explore three leading theories. Integrated information theory asserts that consciousness is created when information is connected and organized—or integrated—by the brain: As the parts of the brain exchange information, they create consciousness. Higher-order theories argue that our brains can be divided into “high” and “low” processes. The low processes happen continuously and without our awareness. Our high processes then select lower-order thoughts and perceptions to “re-represent” as higher-order thoughts. In this theory, consciousness is a kind of echo or mimicry of unconscious processes. Global workspace theories maintain that our minds are full of unconscious thoughts and perceptions that become conscious when they enter a “workspace,”—a focal point of attention in our minds. |
2) The Preconscious Mind
Freud describes your preconscious mind as a layer that consists of thoughts and memories not currently in conscious awareness, but which can be easily accessed by your conscious mind. For example, your home address or the name of your first-grade teacher might reside in your preconscious until you need to remember it.
(Shortform note: While Freud’s term “”preconscious” is no longer widely used, his concept is similar to the idea of working memory in cognitive psychology. Working memory refers to a small amount of information that the human brain keeps readily available to recall as needed. It aids us in finding solutions, understanding situations, and creating plans.)
3) The Unconscious Mind
Finally, Freud writes that your unconscious mind is the deepest layer of your psyche, consisting of thoughts, feelings, and memories that your conscious mind can’t directly access because they’ve been repressed by your censor. These are often primitive urges, traumatic experiences, or socially unacceptable desires that your conscious mind finds too threatening or disturbing to acknowledge.
(Shortform note: While Freud did not invent the concept of the unconscious mind, he’s widely credited with popularizing the idea and making it part of mainstream psychology. However, the meaning of the term has shifted over the years. Today, in neurology, the “unconscious” refers to a wide range of cognitive processes that happen without conscious awareness, such as pattern recognition, sensory information processing, and organ maintenance. This usage departs from Freud, who specifically conceived of the unconscious as a reservoir of emotions, memories, and thoughts that have been actively repressed.)
