Beyond Motivation: Do Social Contexts Deplete and Restore the Capacity for Controlled (vs Automatic) Action?

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Abstract

Human thoughts and actions typically result from rapid, “automatic” mental processes, but occasionally result from slower processes under effortful, conscious control. “Dual process” sociologists suggest that individuals’ exercise of controlled (“Type II”) processes is shaped by social context, with consequences for the reproduction and transformation of culture and for individuals’ control over their own lives. Empirical work has focused on how social contexts motivate use of Type II processes, but could social contexts also shape individuals’ capacity for using Type II processes, as some theorists have speculated?

Drawing on theory and evidence from psychology, I argue that Type II processing depends on a scarce, renewable resource, which I term “mental energy.” A wide range of social contexts — those demanding the exercise of self-control in attention, thought, or behavior — appear to deplete mental energy, while relatively few social contexts appear to restore it. Notably, exposure to natural settings rapidly and reliably supports mental restoration. Small variations in neighborhood tree cover have major long-term consequences for individuals’ management of major life issues, social relationships, and academic achievement. This makes tree-planting in barren, disadvantaged neighborhoods a promising strategy for counteracting social inequality.

This work has important implications for sociologists interested in culture, cognition, inequality, and social change. At any given moment, an individuals’ capacity to engage Type II processes — and thus, their tendency to use discursive (versus practical) cultural knowledge — depends not only on their motivations, but also on the extent to which their prior social contexts depleted or restored their capacity for self-control. In the long run, individuals’ capacity to exercise Type II processes — and thus control over their own lives — depends on the extent to which their life circumstances produce scarcity or abundance of mental energy.

Author

• Elsinore Kuo, Northwestern University