The Cognitive Unconscious in Everyday Life

Abstract

AbstractThe type of unconscious influences that matter in the everyday lives of everyday people are those of which they are unaware, whether or not they are aware of the events, people, and situations that trigger them. Research across multiple domains of psychology shows that our “free” choices, preferences, motives, and social behavior are all shaped by these unconscious operations. They arise from various sources, including (1) evolved primary motives for survival and safety, (2) early childhood experiences for which there is later no explicit memory; (3) carryover (priming) effects of experiences from one situation into the next; and (4) the transformational impact of our active goals on attention, preferences, and behavior. These effects have now been demonstrated in many real-life settings, including eating and health behavior, consumer purchasing, and teamwork and individual performance in the workplace, with unconscious effects in the field significantly stronger than those in the lab.