How consciousness gets rid of contradictions

Abstract

The article maintains that the mechanism of consciousness endures no contradictions and tries its best to construct a consistent picture from conscious representations. If one cannot manage with contradiction he/she experiences strong feelings or even temporarily loses his/her conscious control. Classical and present-day experimental results are considered, including research by the St. Petersburg cognitive psychology group, which provide examples of the following main ways of eliminating contradictions: 1. Being aware of only one of possible interpretations and at the same time rejecting all the other ones, which are inconsistent with the former one. 2. Being alternately conscious of inconsistent meanings — no one can be simultaneously conscious of inconsistent meanings. 3. Unconscious distortion of information, so that the contradiction is reduced or totally disappears. 4. Constructing a unifed context that transforms the contradiction into the consistent whole. 5. Depreciating either the contradiction itself or one of its parts and/or reducing it to an absurdity.