Abstract
Dual process theorists in psychology maintain that the mind’s workings can be explained in terms of conscious or controlled processes and automatic processes. Automatic processes are largely nonconscious, that is, triggered by environmental stimuli without the agent’s conscious awareness or deliberation. Automaticity researchers contend that even higher level habitual social behaviors can be nonconsciously primed. This article brings work on automaticity to bear on our understanding of habitual virtuous actions. After examining a recent intuitive account of habitual actions and habitual virtuous actions, the author offers her own explanation in terms of goal-dependent automaticity. This form of automaticity provides an account of habitual virtuous actions that explains the sense in which these actions are rational, that is, done for reasons. Habitual virtuous actions are rational in the sense of being purposive or goal-directed and are essentially linked with the agent’s psychological states. Unlike deliberative virtuous actions, the agent’s reasons for habitual virtuous actions are not present to her conscious awareness at the time of acting.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Strictly speaking, the representation of the goal, and not the goal itself, is nonconsciously activated. I try to be as precise as possible, and refer mainly to the activated representation of the goal. Sometimes this locution is cumbersome, and I refer simply to the activation of the goal. One might think that referring to the representation of a goal, as opposed to simply referring to a goal, is to introduce a distinction without a difference, since having a goal is the same thing as having a representation of it. This is not quite right, however, for my representation can extend beyond the conceptual content of the goal itself. We can see this by noting that representations of goals can change, yet the goal itself remains the same. My goal to lose weight, for example, can remain essentially the same in terms of conceptual content, yet my representation of it can change from negative to positive, depending on changes in the attitude with which I view it.
For consequentially ascribable versus independently intelligible desires, on which I draw for insight about goal ascription, see Dancy (1993, pp. 8–9).
I am grateful to Timothy Crockett for this example.
The analogy of virtue-relevant goals with deep language structures can be taken only so far. My claim is not that representations of virtue-relevant goals are innate, as are language capacities, only that they are deep-seated.
References
Aarts H, Dijksterhuis A (2000) Habits as knowledge structures: Automaticity in goal–directed behavior. J Pers Soc Psychol 78:53–63
Aristotle (1985) In: Irwin T (Transl.) Nicomachean ethics. Hackett, Indianapolis
Baldwin MW (ed) (2005) Interpersonal cognition. Guilford, New York
Bargh JA (1989) Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence in social perception and cognition. In: Uleman J, Bargh J (eds) Unintended thought. Guilford, New York, pp 3–51
Bargh, JA (1990) Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction. In: Higgins E, Sorrentino R (eds) Handbook of motivation and cognition, vol 2. Guilford, New York, pp 93–130
Bargh JA, Barndollar K (1996) Automaticity in action: The unconscious as repository of chronic goals and motives. In: Gollwitzer P, Bargh J (eds) The psychology of action. Guilford, New York, pp 457–481
Bargh JA, Ferguson M (2000) Beyond behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychol Bull 126:925–945
Bargh JA, Gollwitzer PM (1994) Environmental control of goal-directed action: Automatic and strategic contingencies between situation and behavior. In: Spaulding W (ed) Nebraska symposium on motivation, vol 41. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, pp 71–124
Bargh JA, Gollwitzer PM, Lee-Chair A, Barndollar K, Trotschel R (2001) The automated will: Nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals. J Pers Soc Psychol 81:1014–1027
Chaiken S, Trope Y (1999) Dual-process theories in social psychology. Guilford, New York
Chartrand Tanya L, Bargh John A (1996) Automatic activation of impression formation and memorization goals: Nonconscious goal priming reproduces effects of explicit task instructions. J Pers Soc Psychol 71:464–478
Dancy J (1993) Moral reasons. Blackwell, Oxford
Dancy J (2000) Practical reality. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Davidson D (1980) Essays on action and events. Clarendon, Oxford
Devine PG, Monteith MJ (1999) Automaticity and control in stereotyping. In: Chaiken S, Trope Y (eds) Dual-process models and themes in social and cognitive psychology. Guilford, New York, pp 339–360
Driver J (2001) Uneasy virtue. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ellenberger HF (1970) The discovery of the unconscious: The history and evolution of dynamic psychiatry. Basic, New York
Fishbach A, Friedman RS, Kruglanski AW (2003) Leading us not into temptation: Momentary allurements elicit overriding goal activation. J Pers Soc Psychol 84:296–309
Fitzsimons GA, Bargh JA (2003) Thinking of you: Nonconscious pursuit of interpersonal goals associated with relationship partners. J Pers Soc Psychol 84:148–164
Fitzsimons GM, Shah J, Chartrand TL, Bargh JA (2005) Goals and labors, friends and neighbors: Self-regulation and interpersonal relationships. In: Baldwin M (ed) Interpersonal cognition. Guilford, New York, pp 103–125
Foot P (2001) Natural goodness. Clarendon, Oxford
Gollwitzer PM, Bargh JA (eds) (1996) The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior. Guilford, New York
Gollwitzer PM, Heckhausen H, Steller B (1990) Deliberative and implemental mind-sets: Cognitive tuning toward congruous thoughts and information. J Pers Soc Psychol 59:1119–1127
Higgins ET, Sorrentino RM (eds) (1990) Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior. Guilford, New York
Hursthouse R (1999) On virtue ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Hursthouse R, Lawrence G, Quinn W (eds) (1995) Virtues and reasons: Philippa Foot and moral theory. Clarendon, Oxford
Johnson RN (2003) Virtue and right. Ethics 113:810–834
McDowell J (1995) Two sorts of naturalism. In: Hursthouse R, Lawrence, G, Quinn, W (eds) Virtues and reasons: Philippa Foot and moral theory. Clarendon, Oxford, pp 149–179
Pollard B (2003) Can virtuous actions be both habitual and rational? Ethical Theory Moral Pract 6:411–425
Shah, J (2003) Automatic for the people: How representations of significant others implicitly affect goal pursuit. J Pers Soc Psychol 84:661–681
Shah JY, Kruglanski AW (2003) When opportunity knocks: Bottom-up priming of goals by means and its effects on self-regulation. J Pers Soc Psychol 84:1109–1122
Slote M (2001) Morals from motives. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Smith M (1994) The moral problem. Blackwell, Oxford
Spaulding WD (ed) (1994) Integrative views of motivation, cognition, and emotion. Nebraska symposium on motivation, vol 41. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln
Stout R (1996) Things that happen because they should: A teleological approach to action. Clarendon, Oxford
Swanton C (2003) Virtue ethics: A pluralistic view. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Uleman JS, Bargh JA (eds) (1989) Unintended thought. Guilford, New York
Zagzebski LT (1996) Virtues of the mind: An inquiry into the nature of virtue and the ethical foundations of knowledge. Cambridge University Press, New York
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Timothy Crockett, Michael Monahan, Theresa Tobin, and anonymous reviewers for this journal for helpful comments on earlier versions of this essay.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Snow, N.E. Habitual Virtuous Actions and Automaticity. Ethic Theory Moral Prac 9, 545–561 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-006-9035-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-006-9035-5