Anxiety
Foundational Research on Automatic Behavior
Foundational Research on Automatic Behavior
Use this directive when a client expresses frustration over behaviors that seem to defy their conscious intentions. These situations, where insight alone fails to produce change, often point to processes occurring outside of direct awareness. This tool helps ground the conversation in the well-established science of automaticity, moving it away from a focus on willpower or personal failing.
The material helps you introduce the concept that many thoughts and actions are initiated by non-conscious processes. By establishing this foundation, you can help a client depersonalize problematic responses, viewing them as learned patterns rather than character flaws. This shift in perspective is often necessary before a client can begin to observe and modify these deep-seated routines.
Foundational Research on Automatic Behavior
| Topic | Source | Key Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic Social Behavior | Bargh, J. A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2), 230-244. | Activating stereotypes outside of awareness can directly influence a person’s subsequent actions. |
| Pre-conscious Intention | Libet, B., et al. (1983). Readiness potentials preceding unrestricted ‘spontaneous’ vs. pre-planned voluntary acts. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 54(3), 322-335. | Neural activity related to an intention to act occurs before the person is consciously aware of that intention. |
| Emotional Processing | LeDoux, J. E. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. Simon & Schuster. | Emotional experiences are heavily driven by neural mechanisms that operate outside of conscious awareness. |
| Automatic Thoughts | Beck, A. T. (1964). Thinking and depression: II. Theory and therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 10(6), 561-571. | Automatic, non-conscious cognitive processes are central to the development and maintenance of anxiety and depression. |
| Emotion and Decision-Making | Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. Penguin Books. | Emotion and bodily states, often processed non-consciously, are integral components of sound reasoning and decision-making. |
| Measuring Implicit Bias | Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(6), 1464-1480. | Implicit biases and attitudes that operate outside of awareness can be systematically measured. |
| Control vs. Automaticity | Wegner, D. M., & Bargh, J. A. (1998). Control and automaticity in social life. In The Handbook of Social Psychology (4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 446-496). | Social behavior results from a constant interplay between conscious, controlled processes and non-conscious, automatic processes. |
| Dual-Process Thinking | Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. | The mind operates using two systems: one fast, intuitive, and non-conscious, and one slow, deliberate, and conscious. |
| Modern Unconscious Research | Hassin, R. R., Uleman, J. S., & Bargh, J. A. (Eds.). (2005). The new unconscious. Oxford University Press. | Provides a broad overview of contemporary research into non-conscious processes in motivation, emotion, and social cognition. |
| Unwanted Mental Influence | Wilson, T. D., & Brekke, N. (1994). Mental contamination and mental correction. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 117-142. | Judgments can be “contaminated” by unwanted thoughts and associations that operate outside of awareness. |
| Goal Interruption | Aarts, H., Custers, R., & Holland, R. W. (2007). The nonconscious cessation of goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(2), 165-178. | Non-conscious negative affect can automatically stop goal-directed behavior without conscious intervention. |
| Judgment Heuristics | Epley, N., & Gilovich, T. (2001). Putting adjustment back in the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. Psychological Science, 12(5), 391-396. | Initial reference points, whether consciously acknowledged or not, heavily and automatically influence subsequent judgments. |
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