The Mythical Number Two Melnikoff, David E.; Bargh, John A.
Trends in cognitive sciences,
April 2018, 2018-04-00, 20180401, Volume:
22, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
It is often said that there are two types of psychological processes: one that is intentional, controllable, conscious, and inefficient, and another that is unintentional, uncontrollable, ...unconscious, and efficient. Yet, there have been persistent and increasing objections to this widely influential dual-process typology. Critics point out that the ‘two types’ framework lacks empirical support, contradicts well-established findings, and is internally incoherent. Moreover, the untested and untenable assumption that psychological phenomena can be partitioned into two types, we argue, has the consequence of systematically thwarting scientific progress. It is time that we as a field come to terms with these issues. In short, the dual-process typology is a convenient and seductive myth, and we think cognitive science can do better.
The distinction between Type 1 and Type 2 processing has grown more popular each decade.
The World Bank and Institute of Medicine issued reports in 2015 endorsing the Type 1/Type 2 distinction, and urging decision makers and medical practitioners around the globe to rely on Type 2 thinking.
A consensus is emerging among the critics and top proponents of the dual-process typology that the classic distinction between Type 1 and Type 2 processing is flawed.
Since the Type 1/Type 2 distinction first emerged, researchers have discovered that very few processes fit into either category, most possess some mixture of Type 1 and Type 2 features.
Shared Experiences Are Amplified Boothby, Erica J.; Clark, Margaret S.; Bargh, John A.
Psychological science,
12/2014, Volume:
25, Issue:
12
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In two studies, we found that sharing an experience with another person, without communicating, amplifies one's experience. Both pleasant and unpleasant experiences were more intense when shared. In ...Study 1, participants tasted pleasant chocolate. They judged the chocolate to be more likeable and flavorful when they tasted it at the same time that another person did than when that other person was present but engaged in a different activity. Although these results were consistent with our hypothesis that shared experiences are amplified compared with unshared experiences, it could also be the case that shared experiences are more enjoyable in general. We designed Study 2 to distinguish between these two explanations. In this study, participants tasted unpleasantly bitter chocolate and judged it to be less likeable when they tasted it simultaneously with another person than when that other person was present but doing something else. These results support the amplification hypothesis.
"Warmth" is the most powerful personality trait in social judgment, and attachment theorists have stressed the importance of warm physical contact with caregivers during infancy for healthy ...relationships in adulthood. Intriguingly, recent research in humans points to the involvement of the insula in the processing of both physical temperature and interpersonal warmth (trust) information. Accordingly, we hypothesized that experiences of physical warmth (or coldness) would increase feelings of interpersonal warmth (or coldness), without the person's awareness of this influence. In study 1, participants who briefly held a cup of hot (versus iced) coffee judged a target person as having a "warmer" personality (generous, caring); in study 2, participants holding a hot (versus cold) therapeutic pad were more likely to choose a gift for a friend instead of for themselves.
Consumer research has largely missed out on two key developments in social cognition research: the growing evidence that much of social judgment and behavior occur without conscious awareness or ...intent and the substantial moderating influence of social‐ and self‐related goal pursuits on basic cognitive and reasoning processes. This evidence is described and its implications are drawn for nonconscious—including subliminal—influences on consumer behavior. The consumer research domain appears ideal for the necessary next wave of this research: the assessment of how much of a role nonconscious influences play in real life in decisions and behavior that are of real consequence to the individual.
Classic and contemporary research on person perception has demonstrated the paramount importance of interpersonal warmth. Recent research on embodied cognition has shown that feelings of social ...warmth or coldness can be induced by experiences of physical warmth or coldness, and vice versa. Here we show that people tend to self-regulate their feelings of social warmth through applications of physical warmth, apparently without explicit awareness of doing so. In Study 1, higher scores on a measure of chronic loneliness (social coldness) were associated with an increased tendency to take warm baths or showers. In Study 2, a physical coldness manipulation significantly increased feelings of loneliness. In Study 3, needs for social affiliation and for emotion regulation, triggered by recall of a past rejection experience, were subsequently eliminated by an interpolated physical warmth experience. Study 4 provided evidence that people are not explicitly aware of the relationship between physical and social warmth (coldness), as they do not consider a target person who often bathes to be any lonelier than one who does not, with all else being equal. Together, these findings suggest that physical and social warmth are to some extent substitutable in daily life and that this substitution reflects an unconscious self-regulatory mechanism.
Nonconscious processes and health Sheeran, Paschal; Gollwitzer, Peter M; Bargh, John A
Health psychology,
05/2013, Volume:
32, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Health behavior theories focus on the role of conscious, reflective factors (e.g., behavioral intentions, risk perceptions) in predicting and changing behavior. Dual-process models, on the other ...hand, propose that health actions are guided not only by a conscious, reflective, rule-based system but also by a nonconscious, impulsive, associative system. This article argues that research on health decisions, actions, and outcomes will be enriched by greater consideration of nonconscious processes.
A narrative review is presented that delineates research on implicit cognition, implicit affect, and implicit motivation. In each case, we describe the key ideas, how they have been taken up in health psychology, and the possibilities for behavior change interventions, before outlining directions that might profitably be taken in future research.
Correlational research on implicit cognitive and affective processes (attentional bias and implicit attitudes) has recently been supplemented by intervention studies using implementation intentions and practice-based training that show promising effects. Studies of implicit motivation (health goal priming) have also observed encouraging findings. There is considerable scope for further investigations of implicit affect control, unconscious thought, and the automatization of striving for health goals.
Research on nonconscious processes holds significant potential that can and should be developed by health psychologists. Consideration of impulsive as well as reflective processes will engender new targets for intervention and should ultimately enhance the effectiveness of behavior change efforts.
The Unconscious Mind Bargh, John A.; Morsella, Ezequiel
Perspectives on psychological science,
01/2008, Volume:
3, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The unconscious mind is still viewed by many psychological scientists as the shadow of a "real" conscious mind, though there now exists substantial evidence that the unconscious is not identifiably ...less flexible, complex, controlling, deliberative, or action-oriented than is its counterpart. This "conscious-centric" bias is due in part to the operational definition within cognitive psychology that equates unconscious with subliminal. We review the evidence challenging this restricted view of the unconscious emerging from contemporary social cognition research, which has traditionally defined the unconscious in terms of its unintentional nature; this research has demonstrated the existence of several independent unconscious behavioral guidance systems: perceptual, evaluative, and motivational. From this perspective, it is concluded that in both phytogeny and ontogeny, actions of an unconscious mind precede the arrival of a conscious mind--that action precedes reflection.
Objective:
Health advocates have focused on the prevalence of advertising for calorie-dense low-nutrient foods as a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic. This research tests the hypothesis ...that exposure to food advertising during TV viewing may also contribute to obesity by triggering automatic snacking of available food.
Design:
In Experiments 1a and 1b, elementary-school-age children watched a cartoon that contained either food advertising or advertising for other products and received a snack while watching. In Experiment 2, adults watched a TV program that included food advertising that promoted snacking and/or fun product benefits, food advertising that promoted nutrition benefits, or no food advertising. The adults then tasted and evaluated a range of healthy to unhealthy snack foods in an apparently separate experiment.
Main Outcome Measures:
Amount of snack foods consumed during and after advertising exposure.
Results:
Children consumed 45% more when exposed to food advertising. Adults consumed more of both healthy and unhealthy snack foods following exposure to snack food advertising compared to the other conditions. In both experiments, food advertising increased consumption of products not in the presented advertisements, and these effects were not related to reported hunger or other conscious influences.
Conclusion:
These experiments demonstrate the power of food advertising to prime automatic eating behaviors and thus influence far more than brand preference alone.
Touch is both the first sense to develop and a critical means of information acquisition and environmental manipulation. Physical touch experiences may create an ontological scaffold for the ...development of intrapersonal and interpersonal conceptual and metaphorical knowledge, as well as a springboard for the application of this knowledge. In six experiments, holding heavy or light clipboards, solving rough or smooth puzzles, and touching hard or soft objects nonconsciously influenced impressions and decisions formed about unrelated people and situations. Among other effects, heavy objects made job candidates appear more important, rough objects made social interactions appear more difficult, and hard objects increased rigidity in negotiations. Basic tactile sensations are thus shown to influence higher social cognitive processing in dimension-specific and metaphor-specific ways.
PDF
