![]() ![]() Automatic processes are unconscious (i.e., you are not consciously aware of them), efficient (they require no effort), unintentional (you don’t have to want them to happen), and uncontrollable (once started, you cannot stop them). In the 1970s, psychologists started to distinguish between psychological processes that were automatic and psychological processes that were controlled. And those are the only things you later remember (“I did notice there was an accident on Main Street”). In fact, if you drive a familiar route, you usually pay attention only to things that are unexpected. You do not need to pay conscious attention, and you do not have to interrupt thinking about the exam. However, the process of driving through the square is so automatized that a fleeting glance of the square is enough. Of course you saw the square when you passed it otherwise you could not have negotiated it. The answer is that driving (assuming you are skilled and the route is familiar) is a largely automatic process. How can you do all of those things while thinking about your exam, that is, without any conscious attention directed at the driving? In addition, you have to do all these things more or less simultaneously. You have to slow down in time before a curve, you have to steer, if you are driving a stick shift, you have to change gears. You have to carefully look at the road, at the traffic, and in your rearview mirror. How can you drive safely and negotiate traffic without consciously noticing where you are? Let’s face it (just remember the first few times you drove a car), driving is really quite complicated. You mindlessly drive along various familiar roads and upon arrival, a friend asks you, “Did you see there’s a new DVD/video store on the square near the church?” You did pass this square, as you always do, but you didn’t notice the new store, and you answer, “Oh, I was thinking about our upcoming exam, I didn’t even see the square, let alone the new store.”įrom a psychological viewpoint, something very interesting happened here. ![]() Imagine you are driving a very familiar route, such as your daily route to school, the university, or your work. Automatic processes are unconscious practices that happen quickly, do not require attention, and cannot be avoided. ![]()
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