Were these people lying? Were they ashamed to admit that
they could solve the problem only after getting a hint? Not at
all. It’s just that Maier’s hint was so subtle that it was picked up
on only on an unconscious level. It was processed behind the
locked door, so, when pressed for an explanation, all Maier’s
subjects could do was make up what seemed to them the most
plausible one.
This is the price we pay for the many benefits of the locked
door. When we ask people to explain their thinking —
particularly thinking that comes from the unconscious — we
need to be careful in how we interpret their answers. When it
comes to romance, of course, we understand that. We know we
cannot rationally describe the kind of person we will fall in love
with: that’s why we go on dates — to test our theories about
who attracts us. And everyone knows that it’s better to have an
expert show you — and not just tell you — how to play tennis
or golf or a musical instrument. We learn by example and by
direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy
of verbal instruction. But in other aspects of our lives, I’m not
sure we always respect the mysteries of the locked door and the
dangers of the storytelling problem. There are times when we
demand an explanation when an explanation really isn’t