B&E3: Cognition, Attitude, Motivation
Lecture 1: thinking before doing?
Impulsive and reflective processes in behavioural control
Goal of this course
Finding an answer to the question: ‘Why do people behave the way they do?’, by looking at
the intrapersonal psychological processes that underlie behaviour
Overview
- Mental representations
- How is knowledge stored in our mind?
- Impulsive versus reflective behaviour
- Understanding priming effects
Thinking before doing?
Environment mental representations behaviour
Mental representations
‘Any mental content or operation that stands for something else in the world’ (Payne &
Cameron, 2013). Examples of mental representations: categories, exemplars, symbols,
mental images, memories, truth values, probabilities, schemas etc.
Function of mental representation
‘For the most part we do not first see and then define, but define first and then see’
(Lippmann, 1922). We use the information in our mind, to see the world around us.
- Classification
- Additional attributes
- Steering attention and interpretation
- Communication
- Thinking
Availability and accessibility
Availability: everything in your memory, so the knowledge you have about a certain group or
topic, all the information that is available. But you are unable to access to all that knowledge
at the same time. Accessibility: the part of information that is at hand at a specific moment
Activation of mental representation
‘Accessibility can be defined as the activation potential of available
knowledge’ (Higgins, 1996). In a study by Macrae, Bodenhausen & Milne
(1995) they asked participants to watch a video, either a control video or a
video that showed an Asian woman putting on makeup or a video of an
Asian women was eating with chopsticks. Then they had to do a test
where words are flashed in front of you, and you have to decide whether it is a word or a
non-word. In the make-up condition participants where faster to decide that a word was a
word when it was a women related word rather than a Chinese related word, which shows
that mental representations of ‘female’ is more accessible. In the chopsticks condition the
,reverse effect is shown, they were faster in deciding a word was a word or non-word when it
was a Chinese related one. The difference in the control condition was non-significant.
How is knowledge stored?
- Associative network models
- Schema models
- (Predictive coding)
- Connectionist models
- Multiple format models
- Embodied cognition
- Situated cognition
Associative network models
Work somehow like a computer. If you think about something like ‘coffee’ a lot of
knowledge about coffee in your mind gets activated. When you think about
‘coffee’, the different nodes in your mind about this topic are accessible, some
nodes are more important for a person. This model argues that knowledge is
activated like a spreading event
Schema models
Relationships between different objects and people and doesn’t talk about nodes. Perceivers
‘go beyond the information given’ (Bruner, 1957). Schemas operate as a lens. Directs
attention, memory, and judgement. You store information in a schema, and these aren’t
centered around a specific topic only, but are also about the situation and can encompass a
lot of different information in situation A as in situation B (e.g., drinking coffee in the
morning, drinking coffee in a restaurant). Schemas differ in different situations
Predictive coding
Bayesian processes:
- Prior affect perception
- Posterior (‘comparison between perception and prior’), you can change a prior in a
certain context (e.g., coffee is tasty in prior situations, but then tastes sour in a
certain bar, next time you go there your prior about coffee is different)
Works somehow like a lens as in the schema models (prior=lens). It can be seen as a sort of
machine that predicts the future and tests whether these predictions match the actual
situation. Quite a dynamic way of looking at a topic. Some priors can be stronger than others
Connectionist models
Connectionism: parallel distribution processing
- Nodes
- Facilitative and inhibitive links (difference from the associative
network model is that it also has inhibitive links on top of the
facilitative links)
- Concepts exist by means of dynamic interplay of distributed
elements (in the associative network model every node has a
meaning, in the connectionist model every node is seen as a neuron that knows a
little bit, and together they make meaning)
, - Input, connection weights (hidden), and output elements (mental representation)
These first 4 models of knowledge storage can be seen as quite abstract and with the idea of
a computer metaphor, the next models deviate a bit from this idea
Multiple format models
This model argues that you can’t treat every type
of information in the same manner. We learn in
different ways and different brain structures are
affected differently, and types of learning are also
related differently to behavior. E.g., affective processes are more related to approach and
avoidance behavior
Embodied cognition
Do mental representations extend outside the mind, both to the body and to the external
environment?
- Representations are modality-specific (e.g., if you think about a cup of coffee, you
could almost smell the coffee beans or feel the warmth of the cup etc.), specific
sensations are activated when you think about a mental representation
- Stored ‘in the body’
- Partial re-experience
Situated cognition
Mental representations result from dynamic interactions between the brain, body, and
environment. If you know some information is stored somewhere else (think about on your
phone or on a piece of paper), then you don’t need to remember everything
Which of these 7 models is the most accurate can’t be said, we only learn from these models
how people think knowledge storage happens. It leads to predictions
‘Four horsemen’ of automaticity
Four concepts that strongly relate to automaticity
- Level of consciousness, some information could be very clear and other information
might be subliminal. The more conscious or unconscious you are, relates to
automaticity. The less conscious you are, the more automatic behavior will probably
get
- Level of intentionality, if you do something very intentionally, it is less automatic.
- Level of controllability, behavior that is under your control, might be less automatic.
E.g., breathing is quite automatic
- Level of efficiency, at the beginning of learning something you have to think a lot
about the behavior you are doing, later on you will get more efficient and can do it
more automatically
Reflective impulsive system (Strack & Deutsch, 2004)
Basically, a two-system model (impulsive and reflective)
- These systems work in parallel
o Impulsive: always activated
, o Reflective: needs motivation and opportunity
- Knowledge representation
o Associations, the impulsive system works with
these and there are all kinds of associations
that get activated by the environment you are
in
o Propositions (based on associations) are made
by the reflective system
Impulsive processes
Behaviour within the impulsive system is based on spreading activation
of knowledge (associations) to motor representations according to
ideo-motor processes. Thinking about behavior is enough to trigger
behavior. ‘Every representation of a movement awakens in some
degree the actual movement which is its object.’ (William James, 1890)
In a study they watched which brain subjects would light up, when
activated by different stimuli (hammer, houses, animals, faces), the
areas related to motor activation behavior, are more activated when people are shown tools
like a hammer than with the other stimuli. By seeing different objects,
we activate brain areas and prepare for ideo-motor action
You see something (elderly person with gray hair), that in turn
activates different schemata and activates behavior
Reflective processes
Behaviour in the reflective system is based on choices. Choices may, by means of intentions,
activate motor-representations in the impulsive system. Choices can be based on:
- Full consideration of pros and cons
- Intuition (‘this option feels good/bad’)
- Or anything in between
We use the associations from the reflective system, make propositions from
those and use them in our decisions/intentions
Idea of this model is that, if you are for instance in a hurry, you can’t process the associations
that well and only your impulsive system is at play. If you then saw the sign ‘do not curse!’,
you might curse more because the reflective processes haven’t happened. ‘Only if there is
sufficient processing time, intention and cognitive capacity to extract meaning of a negation
will at the reflective system be engaged and the task successfully completed’
When processes are in conflict
If you see a chocolate dessert, positive associations may be
activated, and you want to approach the dessert. On the other
hand, you might have a reflective route that wants to signal that
you are on a diet. The one with the stronger activation will win.
Depending on motivation or possibility to control will have an
influence on the route you will take
