Two Information-Processing Systems 165as successes in his rational system, failed to fulfill a basic need
or needs in his experiential system. His success, therefore, can
be said to be success at the rational level but failure at the ex-
periential level. This raises the question of what the deeply
frustrated need in his experiential system might be. In the ab-
sence of additional information, it is, of course, impossible to
know, and one can only speculate. One possibility within the
framework of CEST is that the frustrated need was for uncon-
ditional love in early childhood. Such a need, of course, can-
not be satisfied by material rewards or accomplishments.
The other interesting observation is that Tolstoi is dis-
tressed not only because of his feelings of emptiness and
meaninglessness, but that, try as he might, he cannot solve the
problem of why he should be unhappy when all the conditions
of his life suggest that he should be happy. It follows from
CEST that the reason he cannot solve his problem, despite his
considerable intelligence and motivation, is that he believes it
exists in his rational system when in fact it exists in his expe-
riential system. Moreover, assuming the speculation about
frustration of unconditional love in childhood is true, its early,
preverbal occurrence and its remoteness from the kinds of
motives normally present in the rational systems of adults can
help account for Tolstoi’s inability to articulate the source of
his distress.
The influence of the experiential system on the rational sys-
tem can be positive as well as negative. As an associative sys-
tem, the experiential system can be a source of creativity by
suggesting ideas that would not otherwise be available to the
linear-processing rational system. Because the experiential
system is a learning system, it can be a source of useful infor-
mation, which can be incorporated into the rational system.
Most important is that the experiential system can provide a
source of passion for the rational system that it would other-
wise lack. The result is that intellectual pursuits can be pursued
with heart, rather than as dispassionate intellectual exercises.
The Influence of the Rational System
on the Experiential System
As the slower system, the rational system is in a position to
correct the experiential system. It is common for people to re-
flect on their spontaneous, impulsive thoughts, recognize they
are inappropriate, and then substitute more constructive ones.
For example, in a flash of anger an employee may have the
thought that he would like to tell off his boss, but on further re-
flection may decide this course of action would be most un-
wise. To investigate this process, we conducted an experiment
in which people were asked to list the first three thoughts that
came to mind in response to reading a variety of provocative
situations. The first thought was often counterproductive and
in the mode of the experiential system, whereas the third
thought was usually corrective and in the mode of the rational
system.
The rational system can also influence the experiential
system by providing the understanding that allows a person
to train the experiential system so that its initial reactions are
more appropriate. That is, by understanding the operating
principles of the experiential system as well as its schemas, it
is possible to determine how that system can be improved;
this can be accomplished in a variety of ways, the most ob-
vious of which is by disputing the maladaptive thoughts in
the experiential system, a procedure widely utilized by cog-
nitive therapists. As the experiential system learns directly
from experience, another procedure is to provide real-life
corrective experiences. A third procedure is to utilize im-
agery, fantasy, and narratives for providing corrective expe-
riences vicariously.
The rational system can influence the experiential system
in automatic, unintentional ways as well as by its intentional
employment. As the experiential system operates in an asso-
ciative manner, thoughts in the rational system can trigger as-
sociations and thereby emotions in the experiential system.
For example, a student attempting to solve a mathematics
word problem may react to the content with conscious
thoughts that produce associations in the experiential system;
the associations then elicit emotional reactions that interfere
with performance. In this illustration, we have an interesting
cycle of the rational system’s influencing the experiential
system, which in turn influences the rational system.
Another unintentional way in which the rational system
can influence the experiential system is through repetition of
thoughts or behavior in the rational system. Through such rep-
etition, thoughts and behavior that were originally under ratio-
nal control can become habitualized orproceduralized,with
the control shifting from the rational to the experiential system
(Smith & DeCoster, 2000). An obvious advantage to this shift
in control is that the thought and behavior require fewer cog-
nitive resources and can occur without conscious awareness.
Potential disadvantages are that the habitual thoughts and be-
havior are under reduced volitional control and are more dif-
ficult to change. Although this can be desirable for certain
constructive thoughts and behaviors, it is problematic when
the thoughts and behavior are counterproductive.The Lower and Higher Reaches
of the Experiential SystemThe experiential system operates at different levels of com-
plexity. Classical conditioning is an example of the operation
of the experiential system at its simplest level. In classical