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The Automaticity of Social Life
John A Bargh1, Erin L Williams
1Yale University.
Current Directions in Psychological Science
|June 24, 2008
Summary
Social interactions are often guided by automatic, nonconscious mental processes. These processes are triggered by social cues and influence goal pursuits and behavior over time.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Much of social life relies on mental processes that occur outside conscious awareness.
- These nonconscious processes are automatically activated by social environmental cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the extent to which nonconscious processes influence social perception, interpretation, and goal-directed behavior.
- To highlight the role of automatic social cognition in guiding interactions.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent research on nonconscious social cognition.
- Analysis of automatic triggers in the social environment (e.g., group memberships, behavior, social norms, power dynamics).
Main Results:
- Nonconscious processes significantly shape the perception and interpretation of social information.
- Automatic social cognition extends to guiding important goal pursuits and social interactions over extended periods.
- Environmental social cues play a critical role in triggering these nonconscious influences.
Conclusions:
- Understanding nonconscious social cognition is crucial for comprehending social behavior.
- Automatic mental processes are fundamental to navigating complex social environments.
- Future research should further investigate the mechanisms and implications of nonconscious social guidance.
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