What is the difference between automatic and controlled thinking?

[nicewheel284]

Yea, the first answer is referring to something different.

In SocialPsych Automatic thinking is your nonconscious or 'effortless' thinking so to speak. It relies on predeveloped schemas and is the sort of thinking that we rely on without noticing that we are thinking.

Controlled thinking is conscious, voluntary and intentional. It's the sort of thinking we employ when we are analyzing a situation, making an important decision, or even more generally when we encounter a new situation where we haven't developed precedent for our Automatic thinking to be used.

An example for it all I guess would be when you enter a new building and need to find a specific room. At first you'd have to check the map and follow signs, but after awhile of frequenting the place you come to direct yourself to the room almost 'without thought'. That kind of demonstrates the shift between controlled and automatic thinking.

There's more depth to it than this but that's the general distinction between the two types I think.