Automatic and controlled processes: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:19, 17 May 2022

Revision as of 10:51, 22 May 2022

Line 5:

===Automatic processes===

When examining the label "automatic" in social psychology, we find that some processes are intended, and others require recent conscious and intentional processing of related information. Automatic processes are more complicated than people may think.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fridland|first=Ellen|date=November 2017|title=Automatically minded|journal=Synthese|language=en|volume=194|issue=11|pages=4337–4363|doi=10.1007/s11229-014-0617-9|s2cid=43228633|issn=0039-7857}}</ref> Some examples of automatic processes include motor skills, implicit biases, procedural tasks, and priming.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Trumpp|first1=Natalie M.|last2=Traub|first2=Felix|last3=Kiefer|first3=Markus|date=2013-05-31|editor-last=Chao|editor-first=Linda|title=Masked Priming of Conceptual Features Reveals Differential Brain Activation during Unconscious Access to Conceptual Action and Sound Information|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=8|issue=5|pages=e65910|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0065910|issn=1932-6203|pmc=3669239|pmid=23741518|doi-access=free}}</ref>  The tasks that are listed can be done without the need for conscious attention. Implicit biases are snap judgments that people make without being aware that they made them. An example of an implicit bias is when someone is walking down the street at night and they see a dark shadow of a person. The person might automatically cross the street or they might be scared of that individual. This is all done in a fraction of a second without the person even knowing they are making that judgment about the person. Priming is when a stimulus from the environment changes the way one someone reacts to another stimulus.  An example of this is when someone sees a fast food sign and realizes they are hungry. This causes them to stop and get something to eat.

That being said automatic effects fall into three classes: Those that occur prior to conscious awareness (preconscious); those that require some form of conscious processing but that produce an unintended outcome (postconscious); and those that require a specific type of intentional, goal directed processing (goal-dependent).

Preconscious automaticity requires only the triggering [[proximal]] stimulus event, and occur prior to or in the absence of any conscious awareness of that event.<ref name=Bargh /> Because they occur without our conscious awareness they are unnoticeable, uncontrollable, and nearly effortless.

Preconscious automaticity requires only the triggering [[proximal]] stimulus event, and occur prior to or in the absence of any conscious awareness of that event.<ref name=Bargh /> Because they occur without our conscious awareness they are unnoticeable, uncontrollable, and nearly effortless. Many previous studies suggest that the mere perception of the physical behaviors of others, as well as abstract categories (race, gender, role-related) that occurs passively in person perception results in increased tendencies to behave in the same way oneself.<ref name=Yale>{{cite journal|last=Bargh|first=John|author2=Kay L. Schwader |author3=Sarah E. Hailey |author4=Rebecca L. Dyer |author5=Erica J. Boothby |title=Automaticity in social-cognitive processes|journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|year=2012|volume=16|issue=12|pages=593–605|___location=Yale University, Department of Psychology|doi=10.1016/j.tics.2012.10.002|pmid=23127330|s2cid=1240978}}</ref> So basically a stimulus may that be person, object, or an action will unconsciously affect one's response and or behavior without one's knowledge. In a study they subliminally exposed one of the participants with an African American face or a Caucasian face before the participants engaged in a verbal game.<ref name="Chen + Bargh">{{cite journal|last=Chen|first=Mark|author2=John Bargh|title=Nonconscious Behavioral Confirmation Processes: The Self-Fulfilling Consequences of Automatic Stereotype Activation|journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology|date=2 January 1997|doi=10.1006/jesp.1997.1329|volume=33|issue=5|pages=541–560}}</ref> The study concluded that when participants were subliminally exposed to the African American faces they were significantly more aggressive in the verbal game than those exposed to the Caucasian face.<ref name="Chen + Bargh" /> In a study related to this the participants were required to play a video game that depicted a real-life situation that involved deciding to shoot a man with a gun. Participants were shown pictures of both Caucasian and African American men with or without a gun or another object in hand. The participants had to respond "Shoot" or "Not Shoot" within milliseconds. The results were that participants significantly decided to shoot faster when African Americans had a gun versus Caucasians.<ref name=Correll>{{cite journal|last=Correll|first=Joshua|author2=Charles M. Judd |author3=Bernd Wittenbrink |title=The Police Officer's Dilemma: Using Ethnicity to Disambiguate Potentially Threatening Individuals|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|year=2002|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1314|volume=83|issue=6|pages=1314–1329|pmid=12500813}}</ref>

Postconscious automaticity depends on recent conscious experience for its occurrence.<ref name=Bargh /> This postconscious influence on processing can be defined as the non-conscious consequences of conscious thought.<ref name=Bargh /> The conscious experience may be intentional, or it may be unintentional, what is important is that the material be in awareness.<ref name=Bargh /> Most things we are aware of are driven by the environment, and one does not intend or control the flood of these [[perceptual]] experiences, yet they still result in postconscious effects. In other words, we need to consciously engage in something and depending on the experience we will unconsciously think, and or behave a certain way. In the classic [[Bobo doll experiment]] a child watches a video of an adult acting aggressive towards a Bobo doll. Later when the child is put in the room with that same doll, the child was more likely to also engage in that act, versus children who didn't watch the video. In a study participants were [[priming (psychology)|primed]] with the stereotype of professors by being told to imagine a typical professor for 5&nbsp;min and to list (a conscious act) the behaviors, lifestyle, and appearance attributes of this typical professor.<ref name=DJJ>{{cite journal|last=Dijksterhuis|first=AP|author2=Ad van Knippenberg|title=The Relation Between Perception and Behavior, or How to Win a Game of Trivial Pursuit|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|year=1998|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.74.4.865|volume=74|issue=4|pages=865–877|pmid=9569649}}</ref> After they were primed they had to perform a general knowledge task. The results were that the participants in the professor condition outperformed those in the control conditions (those not primed at all).<ref name=DJJ />