Automatic and controlled processes: Difference between revisions

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When examining the label "automatic" in social psychology, you find that some processes are intended, and others require recent conscious and intentional processing of related information. 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. 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|year=2012|___location=Yale University, Department of Psychology}}</ref> So basically a stimulus may that be person, object, or an action will unconsciously effect your response and or behavior without you knowing. 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=January 2, 1997|doi=10.1006/jesp.1997.1329|volume=33|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|pages=1314–1329}}</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 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|___location=University of Nijmegen|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.74.4.865 |volume=74|pages=865–877}}</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 />

Goal-dependent automaticity concerns skill and thought processes that require a goal to engage in them. This process is much similar to postconscious in that it requires conscious awareness to be initiated, but after that it can be guided outside of awareness by the unconscious mind. So a good example would be driving a car. In order to drive a car you need to consciously have a goal to drive somewhere. When engaged in driving (only with enough practice) one can almost operate the car almost entirely without conscious awareness.<ref name=Yale /> However more attentional control and decision making are needed when introduced to novel (reference) situations like driving through an unfamiliar town. The process needs to be learned enough that it can be automatic, requiring little conscious thought as to how to do it.