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Automaticity in Social-Cognitive Processes

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Automaticity in Social-Cognitive Processes Review Feature Review Automaticity in social-cognitive processes John A. Bargh, Kay L. Schwader, Sarah E. Hailey, Rebecca L. Dyer, and Erica J. Boothby Yale University, Department of Psychology, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520, USA Over the past several years, the concept of automaticity and prejudice in adults (see [2]); instead we devote of higher cognitive processes has permeated nearly all attention to the new emerging research on attitudes and domains of psychological research. In this review, we prejudice in very young children (see the section on devel- highlight insights arising from studies in decision-mak- opment). ing, moral judgments, close relationships, emotional The second major trend in automaticity research has processes, face perception and social judgment, motiva- been the growing recognition that not all higher-level tion and goal pursuit, conformity and behavioral conta- automatic processes are put in place via a process of skill gion, embodied cognition, and the emergence of higher- acquisition (e.g., [3]), in which a mental process starts out level automatic processes in early childhood. Taken as conscious and effortful and only with frequent and together, recent work in these domains demonstrates consistent practice and experience becomes efficient and that automaticity does not result exclusively from a automatic. Early childhood studies and research on em- process of skill acquisition (in which a process always bodied influences have shown how innate processes and begins as a conscious and deliberate one, becoming those acquired in very early childhood (such as concepts capable of automatic operation only with frequent about the physical world and physical experiences) can use) – there are evolved substrates and early childhood exert an automatic, nonconscious influence on the higher learning mechanisms involved as well. mental processes, without starting out as a conscious process (see [4]). The pervasive role of automaticity in psychological Several forms of automatic influence are driven by theory and research effortless perceptual activity regarding the outside world, If there is one major trend in research on automaticity of such as behavioral contagion or conformity effects trig- the higher mental processes over the past few years, it is gered by the perception of others’ behavior and immediate that the concept has now permeated nearly all psychologi- impressions of others based on their facial features or cal domains. What began 30 years ago with some tentative expressions alone, whereas others are driven by automatic steps into the notion that some basic social-perceptual sensory perception and the perception of internal states as processes, such as impression formation and stereotyping, in embodied cognition and emotional influences, including could have efficient and unintentional components (that is, emotional influences on moral judgment. These can be influences that operate outside of one’s conscious aware- thought of as ‘preconscious’ automatic phenomena [1], ness) [1], has now become a staple and indispensable because they are generated from effortless sensory or construct for the explanation and prediction of almost perceptual activity and then serve as implicit, unappreci- all psychological phenomena. In this concise review of a ated inputs into conscious and deliberate processes. A burgeoning literature we seek to present the highlights major development over the past decade and especially and some representative studies in (i) behavior contagion the past 5 years has been the inclusion of motivational and and conformity, (ii) face perception and social judgment, goal pursuit processes into this category of preconsciously (iii) embodiment, or the automatic influence of concrete automatic processes. Research has shown that goal pur- physical states and experiences on abstract psychological suits can become activated (primed) by relevant situational and interpersonal processes, (iv) emotion regulation, (v) features; they then operate outside of conscious awareness moral judgments, (vi) motivation and goal pursuit, (vii) the and guidance. Other forms of automaticity are conse- emergence of higher-level automatic processes in early quences of prior conscious and intentional thought, such childhood, (viii) decision making, and (ix) relationship as unconscious components in consciously intended deci- formation and maintenance (Table 1). sion-making processes and those that support one’s con- In keeping with our intended focus on the new, emerg- scious commitment to a relationship partner; these can be ing domains of automaticity research, we did not include considered as ‘postconscious’ or (better still) ‘goal-depen- here the most recent developments in the longest-standing dent’ forms of higher-level automatic processes (see [1]; domain of social automaticity research, that of attitudes also [5]). We will present representative recent studies of auto- Corresponding author: Bargh, J.A. ([email protected]). matic influences on such higher order phenomena as social 1364-6613/$ – see front matter ß 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.10.002 Trends in Cognitive Sciences, December 2012, Vol. 16, No. 12 593 Review Trends in Cognitive Sciences December 2012, Vol. 16, No. 12 Table 1. Domains of automaticity research Type of automaticity Domains Preconscious automaticity: Behavior contagion and conformity (see text) Consumer behavior [160] Generated from effortless sensory or perceptual activity to then serve as implicit, Developmental: early childhood (see text) unappreciated inputs into conscious and deliberate processes, or directly activate Embodiment (see text) higher mental processes such as goal pursuit and social behavior Emotion regulation (see text) Evolutionary influences [161] Face perception and social judgment (see text) Health psychology [162] Implicit attitude influences [163] Moral judgments (see text) Motivation and goal pursuit (see text) Stereotyping and prejudice [2] Postconscious (goal-dependent) automaticity: Attention and motor performance [164] Cognitive skill acquisition [165,166] Dependent on prior or concurrent conscious and intentional thought Decision-making (see text) Relationship formation and maintenance (see text) behavior, self-regulation, moral judgments, close relation- on to questions of limits, constraints, and moderators of the ships, and decision making, organized in terms of whether basic effect (Figure 1). Other research now focuses on the these require only the presence of the triggering sensory or potential social consequences of natural imitation and mim- perceptual experience (preconscious) or are dependent on icry tendencies. the additional context of an active motivational state (goal- Regarding moderators and mechanisms, the social con- dependent) for their operation. As will be seen, occasionally sequences of behavior contagion appear to be mediated by its the sensory or perceptual experiences can be carry-over effect on self-construal. This was first demonstrated by Hull reactions from one context to the next, as in embodiment or and colleagues [9] across five studies in which stereotypes, moral judgment research, in which emotional disgust or emotional faces, and achievement-related primes were pre- guilt reactions influence subsequent information proces- sented either subliminally or supraliminally. Implicit elder- sing and behavioral responses. We will focus on the under- ly-stereotype primes caused participants subsequently to lying mechanism or source of the automaticity effect, walk more slowly (Studies 1 and 2), replicating the original sometimes evolved or hard-wired, sometimes from early elderly stereotype priming effect on behavior [10], but this experience (including absorption of cultural beliefs in the effect was found only for dispositionally high self-conscious, very young), as well as the traditionally researched source not low self-conscious, individuals. In other experiments, of automaticity from skill acquisition. We draw the general subliminal achievement primes produced improved task conclusion that each new field that includes a consider- performance compared to a control group (Study 3) and ation of automatic processes in accounting for their central subliminal angry faces significantly increased blood pres- phenomena is profiting by increased power of its models in sure compared to a subliminal relaxation prime (Studies 4 accounting for heretofore unexplained variance. For exam- and 5), but again, only for high self-conscious participants. ple, a consideration of automatic, nonconscious influences In harmony with these findings, manipulations of self-fo- has proven a boon to understanding the causes of counter- cused attention also moderate behavior priming effects: productive unhealthy behaviors and formerly unexplained DeMarree and Loersch [11] manipulated attentional focus sources of romantic attraction. to the self versus to other aspects of the current environment and found that aggressive behavior could be primed only Preconscious automaticity when attention was focused on oneself. Focusing attention Behavior contagion and conformity on someone else instead allows priming effects on the per- Past research on the automatic link between social percep- ception of that person (e.g., that they are more aggressive in tion and behavior established that the mere perception of nature), but not on self-perception, and the reverse is true the physical behavior of others [6], as well as the
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