Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAutomatic vs. Controlled ProcessingHow to Use Automatic ProcessingAutomatic Processing in Everyday Life

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Table of Contents

Automatic vs. Controlled Processing

How to Use Automatic Processing

Automatic Processing in Everyday Life

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Dr. Shannon Dobbs (PsyD), clinical director at FOY Wellness and Recovery, says that often it is basic household or bodily tasks that make for the easiest examples of automatic processing.

“Think of this as making your cup of coffee the way you normally make it in the morning. Activities like driving or typing, walking, those are all automatic processes. And they come with practice.”

Controlled processing on the other hand, whether it’slearninga new skill or being more intentional about something we already know intimately, is also key to our lives as humans. Controlled processing is focused on taking an action intentionally and with thought rather than the unconscious process used during automatic processing. However,Dr. Gina Radice-Vella (PsyD), chief psychologist at Jersey Shore University Medical Center says that even our most basic of bodily functions can shift from automatic to controlled with a little work.“An automatic process such as breathing, most everybody does it pretty automatically without thinking about it. But we can direct it to where we’re intentionally trying to control and regulate our breathing.”

In this way, commonly used strategies likemindfulnessandcognitive behavioral therapyare engaging with this interplay between automatic and controlled processing. One of the advantages of automatic processing is that, for most people, it saves you energy. However, automatic processing also has a downside. That lessening of intentional thought means that our biases can creep in. It’s an aspect that Susan Horton (LMFT) is actively trying to engage with in her practice.“It’s important to note that while automatic processing can be efficient and helpful in many situations, it can also lead to cognitive biases and errors," she says. “As a therapist, I work with clients to become more aware of their automatic processing patterns and to develop strategies to interrupt them when they are unhelpful. By increasing our awareness of automatic processing, we can make more intentional choices and live more fulfilling lives.”

Another disadvantage of automatic processing is that, in certain social situations, we can perform an interaction rather than engage with another person or group. Radice-Vella says that it’s such a common occurrence that it can become unnerving when we notice it in our own behavior.

“I could have a conversation with you, I could appear like I’m listening, I could even talk back to you. Meanwhile, my brain is thinking about what I’m going to make for dinner tonight, and what I’m going to wear to work tomorrow morning,” she says. But if we’re not intentionally engaging in that process, then we’ve lost the whole meaningful connection, and it can scary for our brains to take us that way.

Understanding automatic processing, and when to shift towards a strategy that engages with controlled processing, can be really helpful when it comes to navigating emotionally-charged situations. Dobbs gives the example of someone who is struggling with a relationship near and dear to their heart.

Let’s say someone is heartbroken. They’re going through a tough week with their partner. The cognitive bias might be, ‘See, no matter how hard I try, nothing works out.’ That is so many different cognitive distortions in one, we’re maximizing,catastrophizing, all or nothing,—SHANNON DOBBS, PSYD

Let’s say someone is heartbroken. They’re going through a tough week with their partner. The cognitive bias might be, ‘See, no matter how hard I try, nothing works out.’ That is so many different cognitive distortions in one, we’re maximizing,catastrophizing, all or nothing,

—SHANNON DOBBS, PSYD

According to Dobbs, when her patients are able to identify that they are having these spiraling thoughts is when they are aligning themselves with controlled processing. However, an emotionally challenging situation shouldn’t be when you’re practicing these skills and trying to make them more automatic. Radice-Vella says that it’s much easier to develop these skills when you’re much more calm and collected.“We always tell our clients, practice them when you’re not in stressful situations, practice them when you’re feeling relaxed, when things are stable. You get the skill, you develop this skill, and then when you need the skill the most in those highly stressful or emotionally charged situations, your body kicks in.”

We’ve already touched on how automatic processing can seep into everyday tasks like driving the same route to work or making the same style of coffee everyday, but what makes humans try to sort things into systems and boxes? Part of that process is calledschema theory. Schema, meaning a system. Hortons says that once we see our decisions through this lens it is clear how automatic and controlled processing comes to be in our everyday.“Another theory related to automatic processing is schema theory, which suggests that our brains create mental frameworks or schemas based on prior experiences to help us interpret new information. These schemas can influence our perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors without our awareness, leading to automatic responses that might not always be accurate or helpful.”

When those responses do become unhelpful Dobbs says that it can be particularly helpful to use what is called a cognitive appraisal model, taking a situation that happens to you and taking a birds eye view to identify your typical—or automatic—response.

“[It] s really looking at situations, the thoughts we have, the emotions that come, the behavior that follows, the feeling we get in our bodies, in our gut, fight or flight feeling that we go into. Finding the pattern and then being able to interject mindfulness, using your five senses to slow things down a little bit,” says Dobbs.

1 SourceVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Djulbegovic B, Hozo I, Beckstead J, Tsalatsanis A, Pauker SG. Dual processing model of medical decision-making.BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 2012;12(1):94.

1 Source

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Djulbegovic B, Hozo I, Beckstead J, Tsalatsanis A, Pauker SG. Dual processing model of medical decision-making.BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 2012;12(1):94.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Djulbegovic B, Hozo I, Beckstead J, Tsalatsanis A, Pauker SG. Dual processing model of medical decision-making.BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 2012;12(1):94.

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