Automatic Processes
Automatic Processes
Jones
&
Kunda
Memory in Social
Cognition
Bargh &
Chartrand
By: The Anonymi
Automatic Processes
Jones
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
Automatic Processes
Implicit Recollection
Jones
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
• Implicit versus explicit memory
– Implicit Memory: the ability to perform
motor skills and procedures (e.g., typing,
riding a bike) as well as certain cognitive
skills (e.g., completing word fragments,
answering questions correctly with no
awareness of how we knew the answer).
– Explicit Memory: conscious awareness of
the material that has been recalled, usually
with a fair idea of how that knowledge was
gained.
Automatic Processes
Historical Background
Implicit Memory Research
Jones • During 1880s, implicit memory was studied in
the context of phenomena such as automatic
writing and neurological amnesias.
Kunda • Ebbinghaus’ “savings score”
• Terms implicit and explicit memory coined in
1924.
Bargh &
Chartrand • Freud and Janet: theories of psychopathology on
the basis of implicit memory.
– However, implicit memory not that same as
“repressed memory”.
• Once 1880s heyday had passed, nearly all
research on human memory focused on explicit
recollection.
Automatic Processes
Implicit Memory Research
Amnesics
Jones • Edouard Claparede (1911)
• H.M.
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
– Ability to perform pursuit rotor and mirror
tracing tests.
– Knows where the bathroom is at the
laboratory he visits occasionally.
• Amnesics can:
– Complete Tower of Hanoi puzzle
– Gollin figure test
– Cognitive mapping (see H.M.)
Automatic Processes
Implicit Memory Research
Amnesics cont.
Jones • Amnesics remember:
Kunda
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–
–
–
–
Frequently practiced sports routines (e.g., skiing)
Learn fictitious information about people
Produce bits and pieces of recently presented stories
Acquire preferences for previously heard melodies
Spot hidden figures more quickly after single exposure
Bargh &
Chartrand • Procedural preservation also seen in
people who experience alcohol-induced
blackouts, drug-related amnesias,
psychogenic amnesias, and DID.
Automatic Processes
Implicit Memory Research
Normal Individuals
Jones • Research into implicit recollection came
Kunda
into the limelight via study of lexical
access.
• Paradigms:
Bargh &
Chartrand
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–
–
–
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Perceptual identification
Word fragment completion
Stem completion
Homophone spelling
Lexical decision
Automatic Processes
Implicit Memory Research
Normal Individuals cont.
Jones • Perceptual identification test:
Kunda
– 30 ms view of word; fast enough so subjects can
make out only dim flash of light
– When asked to guess from list of words, subjects
can usually correctly guess when word was
primed
Bargh & • Word completion
Chartrand
– Study list of words (might include “dimple”)
– “d _ _ p _ e”
• Stem completion
– Similar to word completion (might include
“concept”)
– “con______”
Automatic Processes
Implicit Memory Research
Normal Individuals cont.
Jones • Homophone spelling
Kunda
– Write down homophones (e.g., “pare”)
– Implicit memory displayed when
spelling (pare, pair, pear) duplicates
word originally studied.
Bargh &
Chartrand • Lexical decision:
– Determine very rapidly string of
“known” and “unknown” words (e.g.,
“barker” or “bekran”)
– Response times faster for words that
were primed.
Automatic Processes
Implicit Memory Research
Normal Individuals cont.
• Must be careful to rule out possibility that
normal subjects might use explicit
Jones
knowledge during an implicit test.
Kunda • Teasing implicit and explicit memory apart:
Bargh &
Chartrand
– When debriefed, subjects say they did not strategize
in any way.
– Subjects are often as surprised as the experimenter to
learn that their “guessing game” performance was
good.
– Results compatible w/ implicit memory persist when
the opportunity to strategize is strictly controlled.
– Implicit and explicit memory tests produce
statistically independent results within the same
subjects for the same materials.
Automatic Processes
Differences between Implicit and
Explicit Operations
Jones • Explicit Memory:
– Deep, elaborate forms of processing such as
visual imagery, semantic conceptualization,
and intricate application.
Kunda
– Seldom affected by the sensory modality
through which info. came.
Bargh &
– Decays rapidly over time when tested in
Chartrand
certain ways.
– Best when stimuli are generated by subjects
rather than presented in isolation.
– Hampered by alcohol.
Automatic Processes
Differences between Implicit and
Explicit Operations
Jones
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
• Implicit Memory
– Not aided by deep or elaborate
processing.
– Bound by modality.
– Perseveres with measurements that
produce rapid decay of explicit memory.
– Interference has little effect.
– Isolated stimuli are best at priming
themselves.
– Not hampered by alcohol.
Automatic Processes
Theories of Implicit
Remembrance
Jones
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
• Schacter
– Implicit memory is subserved by a special
neurological system.
– Implicit memories are sustained despite the
destruction of brain structures that are
known to play a significant role in creating
explicit memories.
– Implicit priming does not seem to fall
within the procedural system.
Automatic Processes
Theories of Implicit
Remembrance
Jones
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
• Roediger
– Not necessary to postulate about an
independent brain system for every
dissociation know to exist in memory
literature.
– Differences in cognitive processing, not
brain structures, that cause dissociations to
occur in tests of implicit and explicit
memories.
– Bottom-up versus top-down processing.
Automatic Processes
Body Memories
Jones • Body “remembers” what the mind forgets.
• Some suggest that muscles, tendons, joints,
and organs of the human body are capable
Kunda
of remembering information, especially
traumatic information.
Bargh &
• Troubled individuals occasionally
Chartrand
experience physical pain but that does not
mean the muscles have memory.
• Individuals who experience somatic
symptoms have indelible memories of the
traumatic event.
Automatic Processes
Definition
(Shiffrin & Schneider, 1977):
Conscious Processes:
-With awareness
Jones
-Controllable
-Effortful
Kunda
-With intention
Automatic Processes (opposite):
Bargh &
Chartrand
-Outside of awareness
-Uncontrollable
-Efficient
-Without intention
No longer fully accepted. (Gilbert & Hixon, 1991)
Automatic Processes
Historical examples of unawareness:
-Aronson and Mills, 1959
Jones
-painful initiation rites
-Nisbett and Wilson, 1977
Kunda
Bargh &
Chartrand
-product placements
-subtle cue (or clue) solves
puzzle
-Bargh, Chen, and Burrows, 1996
-prime rudeness->
interruption
Considered weak examples.
Automatic Processes
Stricter methods-Implicit memory:
-Schacter, 1987, 1996
-amnesic patients
Jones
-Tulving, Schacter, and Stark, 1982
-word-stem completion faster,
recognition worse after week
Kunda
-Brown and Murphy, 1989
-unintentional plagiarism (source
amnesia)
Bargh &
Chartrand
-Jacoby et al., 1989
-becoming famous after 24 hours
(poor source monitoring)
Subliminal?
Automatic Processes
Stricter methods-Subliminal
Perception:
Jones
-Debner and Jacoby, 1994
Kunda
-500 ms-successfully
suppressed word
-50 ms-unsuccessful.
Completed word-stem.
Bargh &
Chartrand
-Bargh and Pietromonaco, 1982
-hostile words leads to
hostile interpretations of
ambiguous behaviors.
Further demonstrations?
Automatic Processes
Stricter methods-Mere Exposure:
-Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc, 1980
-ambiguous shapes
Jones
Kunda
-Bornstein and D’Agostino, 1992
-more likely to occur if stimuli are
presented subliminally
-Bargh et al., 1995
Bargh &
Chartrand
-individual differences: sex and
power
-Fazio et al., 1995
-African-American faces.
What of efficiency?
Automatic Processes
Stricter methods-Scarce
Time/Resources:
-Neely, 1977
Jones
Kunda
-birds and body parts
-Fazio et al., 1986 & Bargh et al., 1996
-affect priming
Bargh &
Chartrand
-Gilbert et al., 1989
-Categorization, characterization,
and correction.
-Wegner, 1994
-intentional distraction, automatic
search
Automatic Processes
hill
home
Jones
Kunda
hill
home
bus
bus
child
child
roof
roof
drive
Bargh &
Chartrand little
drive
brick
brick
little
Automatic Processes
Summary:
-Many aspects of our life are
automatically controlled.
Jones
-But cultural differences? (e.g.,
Choi & Nisbett…)
Kunda
-Automaticity is primarily studied
under the contexts of it being outside
our awareness (subliminal priming)
and during times when efficiency is
needed or cognitive resources are
low.
of
Bargh &
Chartrand
-How do we acquire automatic or
“auto-motive” (c.f. Bargh) behaviors?