Attention and Automaticity Part 2

“The Automaticity of Everyday Life” Bargh (1984) “As Skinner argued so pointedly, the more we know about the situational causes of psychological phenomena, the less need we have for postulating internal conscious mediating processes to explain these phenomena.” Automaticity in Social Behavior • Most Social Behavior is Automatic – Triggered by Environment – Preattentive/Preconscious Processing • Internal Mental Representations of the Situation are Constructed Automatically – Perception “Dumped” in Consciousness Interruptions of Experimenter Bargh et al. (1996), Experiment 1 • Cover Task: Scrambled Sentences – “Rude” Primes • aggressively, rude, bother, disturb, intrude – “Polite” Primes • respect, honor, considerate, appreciate, patiently – “Neutral” Primes • exercising, flawlessly, occasionally, rapidly, gleefully • Experimenter Engaged with Confederate – Ignores Waiting Subject • Interruptions During 10-Minute Waiting Period Interruptions of Experimenter Bargh et al. (1996), Experiment 1 70 % of Subjects 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 "Polite" Neutral "Rude" Prime Preconscious Analysis of Situation Bargh (1984) • • • • • Situational Effects Social Perception Perception-Behavior Interface Evaluation Evaluation-Behavior Interface Social Ignition, not Social Cognition Auto-Motive Model of Social Behavior Bargh (1990) • Traditional Model – Conscious Selection of Intended Behavior – Automatic Execution of Intention • Revised Model Automates Selection Process • Goals and Motives Automatically Invoked – Operate Outside Awareness The Automaticity Juggernaut Kihlstrom (2008) • Social Behavior Largely Automatized – Conscious Percepts, Goals, Emotions Irrelevant • Automatically Triggered by Preconscious Analysis • Consciousness is an Afterthought – Give Plausible/Acceptable Reasons for Behavior • We Are All Zombies After All – Not Because Zombies are Conscious Too • Dennett – But Because Consciousness is Epiphenomenal • Plays No Causal Role in Behavior “The Automaticity of Everyday Life” Bargh (1997, p. 1) “[T]he more we know about the situational causes of psychological phenomena, the less need we have for postulating internal conscious mediating processes to explain these phenomena…. [I]t is hard to escape the forecast that as knowledge progresses regarding psychological phenomena, there will be less of a role played by free will or conscious choice in accounting for them…. That trend has already begun…, and it can do nothing but continue.” “Is Consciousness Riding into the Sunset?” Bargh (1997), p. 50, 52 “Automaticity pervades everyday life, playing an important role in creating the psychological situation from which subjective experience and subsequent conscious and intentional processes originate…. I emphatically push the point that automatic, nonconscious processes pervade all aspects of mental and social life, in order to overcome what I consider dominant, even implicit, assumptions to the contrary. The Unbearable Automaticity of Being Bargh & Chartrand (1999, p. 462) “[M]ost of a person’s everyday life is determined not by their conscious intentions and deliberate choices but by mental processes that are put into motion by features of the environment and that operate outside of conscious awareness and guidance.” “Naturalization” and Freud’s Sorrow • Copernicus – Earth is not Center of Universe • Darwin – Man is Just Another Animal • Freud – Man is Fundamentally Irrational • Bargh – Man is (Virtually) a Conscious Automaton Ohme (2000) Unconscious Thought Theory Dijksterhuis & Nordgren (2006) • Choice Among Several Alternatives – Differ Along Several Dimensions • UT Superior for Complex Choices – Greater Processing Capacity – Unconstrained by Attentional Bottleneck – More Accurate/Reliable Weighting of Features • Less Biased by Contextual Influences (e.g., Availability) – Conscious Thought Emphasizes Features Currently in Attentional Spotlight Automaticity Pervades Social Cognition Bargh et al. (2012) • Postconscious (Goal-Dependent) Automaticity – Dependent on Prior Conscious/Intentional Thought • Preconscious Automaticity – Unconscious Inputs to Conscious Processes – Direct Activation of Goal Pursuit/Social Behavior The Automaticity Principle Huang & Bargh (2013) • Doubts About Conscious Control – Power of Situational Influences – Limits of Introspective Access – Dual-Process Models • Effects of Unconscious Processes – How a Person Perceives the World – How a Person Behaves in Response A Softening of Views? Bargh et al. (2012) • “Any process of sufficient complexity to be of interest to social psychologists involves a complex interplay between both controlled (conscious) and automatic processes.” (p. 601) • “Conscious thought is causal and it often puts automatic processes into play; similarly, automatic processes regularly cause and influence conscious thought processes. These two fundamental forms of human information processing work together, hand in glove, and indeed one would not be able to function without the other.” (p. 602) The False Fame Effect Jacoby et al. (1989) • Study List of Nonfamous Names – Memory Test • 24 Hours Later, Make Fame Judgments – Famous, Nonfamous Names • Previously Studied Nonfamous Names are Now Judged to be Famous • Explanation – Study Primes Names on Judgment Task – Priming Increases Availability • Biases Judgments of Fame – Influence of Priming is Automatic Components of Processing in Fame Judgments Jennings & Jacoby (1993) 0.8 Parameter Estimate 0.6 Full Attention Divided Attention 0.4 Elderly 0.2 0 Conscious Automatic Component of Processing Spontaneous Trait Inferences Uleman et al. (2005) • Study Photos of Strangers – Paired with Behavioral Description • 2 Days Later, Make Trait Judgments – Old, New Photos • Old Photos Receive Trait Attributions in Line with Behavioral Descriptions • Behaviors Prime Relevant Traits – Priming Increases Availability • Influence of Priming is Automatic Components of Processing in Spontaneous Trait Inferences Uleman et al. (2005) 1 Parameter Estimate 0.8 Immediate 0.6 20 Minutes 0.4 2 Days 0.2 0 Conscious Automatic Component of Processing The Weapon Bias Payne (2001) • Identification Task: Weapon or Tool? • Primed with Black or White Faces • Priming Effects – Faster to Identify Gun after Black Prime • Faster to Identify Tool after White Prime – More Misidentification of Tools as Guns • Faces Prime Racial Stereotypes – Stereotype Primes Related Judgment • Influence of Priming is Automatic Components of Processing in the Weapon Bias Payne (2001); Payne et al. (2005) No Deadline 1 Parameter Estimate 0.8 0.6 Black Prime 0.4 White Prime 0.2 0 Conscious Automatic Component of Processing Components of Processing in the Weapon Bias Payne (2001); Payne et al. (2005) 500 msec Deadline 1 Estimates from No-Deadline Condition Parameter Estimate 0.8 0.6 Black Prime 0.4 White Prime 0.2 0 Conscious Automatic Component of Processing Behavior -- It’s Involuntary Park, American Psychologist 1999, p. 461 “We perceive ourselves to have far more control over our everyday behavior than we actually do…. [T]he source of behavioral control comes not from active awareness but from… mental activations of which we are unaware and environmental cues to which we are not consciously attending that have a profound effect on our behavior. [T]hese articles represent… fundamental breakthroughs in the understanding of motivations, free will, and behavioral control.” Automaticity in the Brain Blakeslee (2002) “[T]he brain systems that detect and evaluate [biological and social] rewards generally operate outside of conscious awareness. In navigating the world and deciding what is rewarding, humans are closer to zombies than sentient beings much of the time. “...Freud’s view of the unconscious was far too limited. When he said… that consciousness is the tip of the mental iceberg, he was short of the mark by quite a bit -- it may be more the size of a snowball on top of that iceberg. “The mind operates most efficiently by relegating a good deal of highlevel, sophisticated thinking to the unconscious…. “The adaptive unconscious does an excellent job of sizing up the world, warning people of danger, setting goals, and initiating action in a sophisticated and efficient manner. “It is a necessary and extensive part of a highly efficient mind.” Wilson (2002), pp. 6-7 “The part of our brain that leaps to conclusions… is called the adaptive unconscious, and the study of this kind of decision making is one of the most important new fields in psychology. “The adaptive unconscious is not to be confused with the unconscious described by Sigmund Freud, which was a dark and murky place filled with desires and memories and fantasies that were too disturbing for us to think about consciously. “This new notion of the adaptive unconscious is thought of, instead, as a kind of giant computer that quickly and quietly processes a lot of the data we need in order to keep functioning as human beings.” Gladwell (2005), p. 11 “…[T]he real causal mechanisms underlying behavior are never present in consciousness. Rather, the engines of causation operate without revealing themselves to us and so may be unconscious mechanisms of mind. “Much of the recent research suggesting a fundamental role for automatic processes in everyday behavior (Bargh 1997) can be understood in this light. “The real causes of human action are unconscious, so it is not surprising that behavior could often arise-- as in automaticity experiments --without the person’s having conscious insight into its causation.” Wegner (2002), p. 97 Actual and Apparent Causation in the Experience of Conscious Will After Wegner (2002) Thought Unconscious Cause of Thought Apparent Causal Path Actual Causal Path Unconscious Path (?) Action Actual Causal Path Unconscious Cause of Action The Readiness Potential (Bereitschaftspotential) Kornhuber & Deecke (1965, 1990) • Event-Related Potential – Recorded in EEG – 800 msec Prior to Movement “The electro-physiological sign of planning, preparation, and initiation of volitional acts” (1990, p. 14) The Readiness Potential Precedes the Conscious Wish Libet et al. (1983) • “Clock-Time” Method – Light Revolves 1/2.56 seconds – Move Finger – Note First Awareness of Wish to Act • Timing of Voluntary, Spontaneous Acts – Awareness of Wish  Act – 200 msec – RP  Awareness of Wish – 350 msec Two Types of Readiness Potential Banks & Pockett (2007), after Libet (1985) Type II Readiness Potential: The Predecisional Negative Shift “Time-On” Theory of Consciousness Libet et al. (1983); Libet (1985, 2002, 2006) • Neuronal Activities Mediate Unconscious Mental Events • Unconscious Mental Events Become Conscious Only If They Persist for an Adequate Time (≈ 500 msec) • Behavior is Instigated Unconsciously • Conscious Control as “Veto” – “Veto Window” ≈ 200 msec Critiques of the Libet Experiment Banks & Pockett (2007) • Replications • Variability • Sources of Error – In Determining Onset of Readiness Potential – In Determining Onset of Conscious Wish • Ecological Validity – Action is Inconsequential – Important Decision Has Already Been Made The Clock Confound Miller et al. (2011) • Movement Not Truly Spontaneous • Subjects Must Watch the Clock • Compare RPs in Two Conditions – Replicate Libet’s Experiment • Watch Clock, Report Decision Time Jonscience.com – Simply Make Spontaneous Movement • Ignore Clock, No Reports The Clock Effect on the Predecisional Negative Shift Miller et al. (2011) Conclusions Concerning the Predecisional Negative Shift Miller et al. (2011) • Artifact of Attention Paid to Clock – Watching Clock, Recording Decision Time • Does Not Indicate Unconscious Initiation of “Voluntary” Behavior • Does Not Show that Conscious Will is Illusory – (Though Maybe It Is) The Automaticity Argument • Experimental Evidence: Automatic Processes Play Some Role, Under Some Conditions, in Social Cognition and Behavior. • Theoretical Conclusion: Automatic Processes are Pervasive, and Consciousness is Largely an Afterthought. – But Does Not Follow From the Evidence Sources of the Automaticity Juggernaut Kihlstrom (2008) • “Conscious Shyness” – Epiphenomenalism “The Sespe”, built 1891 (Fillmore & Western Railway, California) “The consciousness of brutes would appear to be related to the mechanism of their body simply as a collateral product of its working, and to be completely without any power of modifying that working as the steamwhistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive engine is without influence upon its machinery.” T.H. Huxley (1868) Sources of the Automaticity Juggernaut Kihlstrom (2008) • Positivist Reserve • Physics Envy – “Pinball” Determinism • “Free Will” Cannot Enter into Closed Causal Sequence • Alliance of Social Psychology with Behaviorism – Traditional Definition as Study of Social Influence – Situationism • Explain Behavior in Terms of Stimulus • Avoidance of Mediating Conscious processes