Automaticity and Absentmindedness
1.	What function does automaticity serve?
	a.	An adaptive function, "freeing up" limited mental resources so that they can be focused on some other tasks.
2.	What are the costs of automaticity?
	a.	When doing things automatically, we operate in an "open loop" fashion.
	b.	We fail to monitor what we're doing, resulting in absentmindedness or action slips.
3.	Action slips. Action slips occur when we are performing skilled behavior. Slips are partly the result of inattention to the task at hand--when the task has become automatic. Action slips are likely to occur where we fail to devote attention to the tasks at hand. If we are distracted, stressed, tired, sick, or if a task is being performed automatically. The lack of attention associated with automaticity allows action slips to occur.
	a.	Capture errors. When some frequently performed activity "captures" (I.e., takes over) the one you intend.
		1.	William James (from his own writings) described what happened when went to his bedroom simply to change his clothes for dinner . . . .
		2.	Capture errors occur because the early stages of two sets of actions are similar--and the familiar one takes over.
	b.	Description errors. When forming a general description of the action to be performed, but the description is not precise enough. The right action on the wrong object.
		1.	A student reported that one day he came home from jogging, took off his sweaty suit, rolled it into a ball, intending to throw it in the laundry basket, instead . . . . This was not poor aim. The laundry basket and toilet were in different rooms.
		2.	Someone intended to put the lid on a sugar bowl, but instead put it on the coffee cup (with the same size opening)
	c.	Associative activation errors. When internal thoughts and associations trigger certain actions.
		1.	One person reported "My office phone rang. I picked up the receiver and yelled 'Come in.'" A knock on the door or a ringing of the telephone both signify the need to greet somebody. In this case, an inappropriate response is triggered. These are the "slips of tongue" that Freud described.
	d.	Loss-of-activation error. Forgetting what one is doing. "I have to go to the bedroom before I start working in the dining room. I start going there and realize as I am walking that I have no idea why I am going there. Knowing myself, I keep going, hoping that something will remind me. I get there, but I still cannot recall what I wanted. So I go back to the dining room. There I realize that my glasses are dirty. With great relief, I go back to the bedroom, get my handkerchief, and wipe my glasses clean.
Reference
Norman, D. A. (1988). The psychology of everyday things. New York: Basic Books.