The preattentive or preconscious analysis of the social environment has been shown to furnish information concerning (a) the abstract categorical membership of discrete behavioral events (e.g., a witnessed behavior being automatically classified as a kind or a shy act), (b) the categorical placement of individuals as members of social groups (as in stereotyping), and (c) the evaluative (i.e., good vs. bad) meaning of frequently experienced social stimuli. The proposed experiments are intended to delineate the specific kinds of information that are provided to one automatically by this social-perceptual mechanism, how strong an influence these sources of information have on consciously-made social judgments, the nature of the connection between this automatic analysis mechanism and the direction of conscious attention (with its further consequences for memory and judgment), and the degree of control one has over one's social-perceptual processes. The goals of the research program are to (a) describe a precise model of a social perception mechanism that accounts for individual differences in sensitivity towards some forms of behavioral information over others, for why one tends to consciously notice and pay attention to some social behaviors and events while not noticing others (i.e., salience effects), and for how the meaning of those events or behaviors is often biased by automatic interpretation processes of which the person is not aware (and so cannot adjust for); (b) to assess the ecological validity of such a model through the use of multiple research paradigms (semantic priming, recognition threshold assessment, lexical decision task, memory load technique, rapid presentation of stimuli), multiple dependent variables (impressions, judgment latencies, judgment confidence), and through the simulation of naturally occurring information environments (e.g., competing stimuli, attentional load, arousal, rapid presentation); and (b) to apply this model to important areas of social research such as stereotyping, depression, and attitudes.
| Bargh, J A; Gollwitzer, P M (1994) Environmental control of goal-directed action: automatic and strategic contingencies between situations and behavior. Nebr Symp Motiv 41:71-124 |
| Bargh, J A; Chaiken, S; Govender, R et al. (1992) The generality of the automatic attitude activation effect. J Pers Soc Psychol 62:893-912 |
