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The Internet and social life (2004)
| Venue: | Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12 (2007) 1143–1168 ª 2007 International Communication Association1165 |
| Citations: | 143 - 0 self |
BibTeX
@INPROCEEDINGS{Bargh04theinternet,
author = {John A. Bargh and Erin L. Williams},
title = {The Internet and social life},
booktitle = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12 (2007) 1143–1168 ª 2007 International Communication Association1165},
year = {2004},
pages = {573--590}
}
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Abstract
ABSTRACT—Much of social life is experienced through mental processes that are not intended and about which one is fairly oblivious. These processes are automatically triggered by features of the immediate social environment, such as the group memberships of other people, the quali-ties of their behavior, and features of social situations (e.g., norms, one’s relative power). Recent research has shown these nonconscious influences to extend beyond the per-ception and interpretation of the social world to the actual guidance, over extended time periods, of one’s important goal pursuits and social interactions. KEYWORDS—social cognition; automaticity; unconscious Automaticity refers to control of one’s internal psychological processes by external stimuli and events in one’s immediate environment, often without knowledge or awareness of such control; automatic phenomena are usually contrasted with those processes that are consciously or intentionally put into opera-tion. Given the historical focus of social psychology on social problems (e.g., discrimination, aggression), it is important to understand the extent to which such negative outcomes might occur without the person’s awareness or despite his or her good intentions. But just because social psychologists tend to study social problems does not mean that automatic processes produce only negative outcomes. To the contrary, much current automaticity research has focused on how nonconscious processes contribute to successful self-regulation and adaptation. As traditional ap-proaches to self-regulation have emphasized the role of con-scious, controlled, or executive processes in overcoming impulsive reactions or bad habits, the potential role of noncon-scious self-regulatory processes has been somewhat overlooked until recently. But because only conscious, controlled processes can ‘‘time-travel’’—when the person remembers the past or anticipates the future—nonconscious processes become es-sential for keeping the individual grounded adaptively and ef-fectively in the present (Bargh, 1997). In terms of contemporary dual-process approaches to cognition, then, nonconscious processes appear to serve a default, background regulatory function, freeing the conscious mind from the concerns of the immediate environment.
Keyphrases
social life nonconscious process social problem immediate environment negative outcome social interaction group membership regulatory function executive process automatic process external stimulus much current automaticity research noncon-scious self-regulatory process conscious mind social situation unconscious automaticity refers abstract much social psychologist social psychology historical focus nonconscious influence relative power bad habit person awareness controlled process important goal pursuit social world successful self-regulation mental process immediate social environment potential role impulsive reaction traditional ap-proaches recent research contemporary dual-process approach automatic phenomenon good intention extended time period actual guidance keywords social cognition internal psychological process
