Automaticity

Definition and Measurement

Automaticity refers to the extent to which behavior occurs without conscious cognitive deliberation. The behavior can be either motor or cognitive and can vary along four dimensions:

• 1.
  Awareness: the extent to which behavior is performed without conscious awareness
• 2.
  Intentionality: the extent to which behavior is performed deliberately or purposefully
• 3.
  Efficiency: the extent to which the behavior requires cognitive resources (e.g., thought)
• 4.
  Controllability: the extent to which the behavior can be contained or inhibited

The four dimensions are not independent. Behavior that occurs without conscious awareness is obviously unintentional, efficient, and uncontrolled. However, people can be conscious of behavior that they did not intend or that they cannot control. Because people who are unaware of performing a behavior obviously perform it efficiently, unintentionally, and without controlling it, research on automaticity has typically focused on awareness.

Both deliberative and automatic processes can influence behavior, and it can be difficult to distinguish between the two. To assess the role of conscious awareness (the ability to report the occurrence of a behavior or the conditions that give rise to it), people are often exposed to behavior-related concepts either subliminally or in an ostensibly unrelated task, and the effects of these concepts on behavior in a later situation is determined.

In a study by John Bargh and his colleagues, for example, participants were exposed to a stereotype of the elderly by performing a sentence construction task. One concept contained in the [Page 202]stereotype (although not explicitly mentioned) is “slow.” This concept, having been activated, led participants to walk more slowly to the elevator on leaving the experiment.

In a study by Hao Shen, Robert Wyer, and Cindy Cai, individuals shadowed a speech (i.e., repeated what they heard) that required them to speak either quickly or slowly. This behavior activated concepts associated with doing things quickly or slowly in general, and these concepts, once activated, influenced the speed at which participants completed a questionnaire in a totally unrelated situation. Although participants were aware of the rate of speaking in the first situation, they were unaware of the speed with which they completed the questionnaire.

The effect of efficiency is often determined by inducing individuals to engage in two activities simultaneously—for example, to keep a 10-digit number in mind while performing a “target” task. If the target is performed automatically and does not require cognitive resources, attempting to remember the number will have no effect on the quality of this performance.

Antecedents of Automaticity

Some automatic behaviors (e.g., breathing or removing one’s finger after touching a hot stove) are biologically determined. Many other behaviors, however, are learned, being acquired over time as a function of repetition. For example, behaviors that are initially performed intentionally to attain a particular goal may become strongly associated with the goal and features of the situation in which the behavior occurs. Consequently, they may ultimately be performed automatically under conditions in which these associated features are present. The behavior that is acquired in this manner may often be complex sequences of actions, each act serving as a stimulus that elicits the next without conscious awareness.

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