Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Social Behavior

TLDR

Social behavior is governed by two interacting systems with distinct operating principles, extending dual‑process accounts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms beyond specific domains. The study proposes a two‑systems model that explains social behavior as a joint function of reflective and impulsive processes and explores its implications across social‑psychological phenomena. The reflective system generates decisions based on facts and values, while the impulsive system elicits behavior through associative links and motivational orientations, with the two systems interacting at multiple stages to produce synergistic or antagonistic outcomes. By integrating motivational components, the model extends prior dual‑process theories and yields more precise predictions of social behavior.

Abstract

This article describes a 2-systems model that explains social behavior as a joint function of reflective and impulsive processes. In particular, it is assumed that social behavior is controlled by 2 interacting systems that follow different operating principles. The reflective system generates behavioral decisions that are based on knowledge about facts and values, whereas the impulsive system elicits behavior through associative links and motivational orientations. The proposed model describes how the 2 systems interact at various stages of processing, and how their outputs may determine behavior in a synergistic or antagonistic fashion. It extends previous models by integrating motivational components that allow more precise predictions of behavior. The implications of this reflective-impulsive model are applied to various phenomena from social psychology and beyond. Extending previous dual-process accounts, this model is not limited to specific domains of mental functioning and attempts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms.