Social Cognitive Processing
Human beings process information
on a regular basis both automatically (unconscious processing) and in a
controlled (conscious processing) or goal-directed manner These dual modes of
social cognitive processing influence your perception of others and social
behavior The research within the field of social psychology reveals that much
of our behavior is automatic and comes in a variety of ways (Dijksterhuis,
2010) For example, a person might be aware of a subliminal message in
advertising, yet he or she is unaware of the effect it may have on his or her
responses A controlled or conscious processing is characterized by
controllability and awareness
Give a brief description of an
example of a conscious and example of an unconscious social cognitive
processing you engaged in within the last 24 hours or 48 hours
Explain one possible reason why
each of the dual modes of processing occurred
Explain one way each of the modes
of processing impacted you Be specific and use current literature to support
your response
Please give references
One reference to used is:
Dijksterhuis, A (2010) Automaticity and the unconscious In S T Fiske, D
T Gilbert, & G Lindzey (Eds), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed,
Vol 1, pp 228-267) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons