Besides when we are sleeping, we are performing behaviors. All day long we are doing things. Doing laundry. Driving to our desired destination. Working on the computer. Mowing the lawn. All of these ultimate goals require small behaviors for completion. Let’s take working on the computer. We have to turn the computer on (moving hands, pushing power button). Log in. Either use key strokes, keypad, or mouse. Sometimes we take a phone call and continue working on the computer. How can we perform all these behaviors easily and sometimes simultaneously? The answer is social automaticity. This article will discuss what social automaticity is, how it helps us, and how it challenges our personal identity.
It is important to know that our behavior starts with cognitive thoughts. Our brain tells our body to perform the actions we desire. In social psychology, behaviors operate in an automatic or non-automatic fashion. This article focuses on the automatic behavior termed social automaticity. It is social automaticity because we are ‘Social’ and acting in a social setting with other people and things around us. Due to the behaviors being described as automatic and under conscious awareness the term ‘Automaticity’ is used. Behaviors are not internal, but external and performed in and with our environment.
Automaticity is a fundamental cognitive concept that is an automatic process in our brain. There are four features of automaticity. The first is Unintentionality. The concept refers to the question of whether a behavior operates in lieu of a goal to initiate the process. The next feature is Efficiency. This criterion refers to a small amount of needed cognitive processing resources to perform the behavior.
The third criterion is Uncontrollability and has to do with goal-dependency. Once the process has been initiated, the process is unable to be altered or stopped. The last feature is Unconscious. That doesn’t mean you are not awake or out of it on the floor. It means the process and behavior takes place under the threshold of conscious awareness. Meaning you are not consciously aware you are performing the behavior.
It’s a blessing we have automaticity. Imagine if we had to plan, think and use mental/cognitive resources for everything we do. By the time we hit 9 AM we would be exhausted. Just typing this article would put me out! It’s the efficiency criteria that makes automaticity so wonderful. When we drive down the road, we just drive. Often, we don’t think about it. It is automatic. Sometimes I think, how did I get to the store? Another question I ask more often than I should is: Did I actually lock the door?
Automatic behaviors are based on our biases, neural paths of least resistance (habits), and personality characteristics. Individuals who are more in tune with their surroundings or higher empathy (personality characteristic) may use their turn signals automatically without a lot of cognitive resources. Whereas someone who is just more interested to getting from point A to point B without thinking about others on the road may not use turn signals. Yet, if someone was taught to use turn signals and the behavior becomes habitual (neural path of least resistance), then the behavior has more to do with habits and not personality. Others may not use turn signals because they don’t think they are needed (bias). Most of the time it’s a combination of these. Using or not using a turn signal is often an example of Social Automaticity. The behavior was performed or not performed with little cognitive resources and little to no awareness.
The majority of our behaviors are automatic. It is suggested that 70 – 85 percent of our behavior is automatic. Which means that the majority of our behavior is under conscious awareness. This statistic raises the question: Do we actually know who we are? Often, our self- identity is based on our behaviors. If we recall a specific behavior such as opening the door for someone, then we think we are kind to others. Part of our self-identity is based on recalled memories of ourselves. Yet, if we can’t recall a majority of our behaviors, is our self-identity accurate? Others observe our behavior. We are only aware of 15-30 percent of our behavior. Are others more accurate to answer the question who we are? Are we a nice person? I challenge you to ask yourself, who knows you the best? Is it you or is it others?
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