Why did I do that? Explaining actions activated outside of awareness

Ana P. Gantman, Marieke A. Adriaanse, Peter M. Gollwitzer, Gabriele Oettingen
2017 Psychonomic Bulletin & Review  
We review the latest research investigating how people explain their own actions when they have been activated nonconsciously. We will discuss evidence that when nonconsciously activated behavior is unexpected (e.g., normviolating, against self -standards), negative affect arises and triggers confabulations aimed to explain the behavior. Nonconsciously activated behaviors may provide a window into everyday confabulation of (erroneous) explanations for behavior, which may also affect
more » ... ge. Implications for self-concept formation and intentionality are discussed.
doi:10.3758/s13423-017-1260-5 pmid:28315169 fatcat:tt7b7wb3gfeptcbmryeixxj2t4