Psych 104
Social Psych
Spring 2019
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing
Controlled: performance/thought concentration
● mind is actively engaged, you are cognitively active
○ first learning to drive (gas vs. break, mirrors)
○ perform more slowly, more effort
○ concentrated behavior
○ single task oriented
● put into controlled when:
○ difficult or novel task
○ high motivation
○ individual difference: need for cognition
■ there’s a scale called “need for cognition scale” that measures the
degree to which you’ll be in control processing and automatic
processing, people like it better when they’re really thinking about
it if they’re high on the need for cognition scale.
Automatic: performance/thought with little awareness
● drive car and talk on cell phone, sing with radio
● perform more quickly, less effort
● often inflexible (automatic) behavior
■ we don’t think about brushing our teeth, we rely on muscle memory
and don’t think about it.
● multi-task
● put into automatic when:
■ routine task
■ easy tasks
■ tired
■ distracted
■ low motivation
Social Cognition Biases:
○ more likely under:
■ automatic processing
■ low need for cognition
○ “Cognitive Miser” behavior in general
■ human beings tend to be cognitive miser, meaning that if we can
get away with it, we try to not put a lot of concentration into
things; concentrating is difficult and tiring, so we tend to fall prey
to wanting to use automatic cognition.
○ “Can I cut in front of you because….” Study; if
people heard the word “because” they just let the
person cut in front of them, even if the person said
…” because I need to make copies”.