Effortful control, explicit processing, and the regulation of human evolved predispositions

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Automatic processing influences social and emotional behaviors.
• Evolved modules address recurrent survival and reproduction challenges.
• Effortful control mechanisms manage behavior based on current context.

Purpose of the Study:

• Analyze effortful control of automatic social and emotional processing.
• Investigate the role of explicit appraisals in guiding behavior.
• Examine the neural basis and individual differences in effortful control.

Main Methods:

• Review of research on aggression, ethnocentrism, sexuality, reward seeking, and emotion regulation.
• Analysis of neuroimaging studies implicating specific brain regions.
• Correlation of individual differences with personality measures.

Main Results:

• Effortful control mechanisms, linked to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral anterior cingulate cortex, guide behavior using explicit appraisals.
• These mechanisms are distinct from cognitive control and working memory.
• Individual differences in effortful control correlate with conscientiousness.

Conclusions:

• Effortful control enables adaptive behavior aligned with long-term goals by overriding automatic responses.
• Explicit processing, driven by cost-benefit appraisals, is crucial for managing complex social and emotional situations.
• Evolutionary pressures for cooperation may have driven the development of explicit processing and effortful control.