Why is the pipe often associated with thinking, reflection, or rumination? Einstein himself was famously attributed the quote (and I paraphrase) that pipes contributed to calm and reasoned judgment on life’s events and observations.
Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) is just a theory and not a scientific law, but it basically says that conscious and unconscious thought are good at different things. Unconscious thought is a very powerful decision making tool in which the brain can continue to recognize patterns while the person is not not actively engaged in thinking about the decision or needed action at hand.
Call it “sleeping on it”, “taking a break”, or otherwise distracting yourself with another task. It informs your gut instinct or the strong hunch you feel when you know what must be done.
Pipes have been associated with this power of thinking for many years, including the great psychologists of yesteryear, including Jung and Freud.
Enjoying a pipe requires conscious thought and action to load, light, tamp, sip, and enjoy. While the mind is occupied with hand motion and pipe smoking, I think the unconscious mind can be focused on solving the days riddles or problems.
What Sherlock Holmes called a “3 pipe problem” takes on a new light in reference to unconscious thought theory.
Have you had a pipe epiphany?
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) is just a theory and not a scientific law, but it basically says that conscious and unconscious thought are good at different things. Unconscious thought is a very powerful decision making tool in which the brain can continue to recognize patterns while the person is not not actively engaged in thinking about the decision or needed action at hand.
Call it “sleeping on it”, “taking a break”, or otherwise distracting yourself with another task. It informs your gut instinct or the strong hunch you feel when you know what must be done.
Pipes have been associated with this power of thinking for many years, including the great psychologists of yesteryear, including Jung and Freud.
Enjoying a pipe requires conscious thought and action to load, light, tamp, sip, and enjoy. While the mind is occupied with hand motion and pipe smoking, I think the unconscious mind can be focused on solving the days riddles or problems.
What Sherlock Holmes called a “3 pipe problem” takes on a new light in reference to unconscious thought theory.
Have you had a pipe epiphany?
![pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/persistent/pubmed-meta-image-v2.jpg)
A Theory of Unconscious Thought - PubMed
We present a theory about human thought named the unconscious-thought theory (UTT). The theory is applicable to decision making, impression formation, attitude formation and change, problem solving, and creativity. It distinguishes between two modes of thought: unconscious and conscious...
![pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/coreutils/nwds/img/favicons/favicon.png)
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