Remarkable, scientifically-based advice for anyone who is struggling to make a difficult decision: Stop thinking about it. For relatively simple decisions, researchers at University of Amsterdam found that it is better to use the rational approach. But the conscious mind can consider only a few facts at a time. And so with complex decisions, like buying a house, the unconscious appears to do a better job of weighing the factors and arriving at a sound conclusion. A person can pay attention to only a limited amount of information at once, which can lead people to focus on just a few factors and lose the bigger picture. The unconscious is better at integrating large amounts of information.
