Is there a "default action" in psychology? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 week ago by rammer@sopuli.xyz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I've been thinking about human behaviour. And to me it seems that our brains invoke a "default action" or a "default network" when there is no actionable stimuli or a task or actionable goal at hand. Is there such a thing in psychology?

For example if I complete a task and don't have anything else to do this second I fall back on a default action. This action is dependent on the situation. This action is something that I usually do in a similar situation.

This can be harmful if you are addicted to something. You seek out your addiction. The default action can overridden. But it requires effort. Default action does not. In case of addiction the required effort can be overwhelming. But if you can override the default action again and again the new action becomes the default action in that situation.

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[-] fizzle@quokk.au 3 points 1 week ago

It seems like you're describing a model that helps you understand or reason about or predict your behaviour or that of others.

Im sure that similar things exist in the formal science of psychology, even if they have different terminology.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy deals with this in a way. In the same way we have physical habits, we also have cognitive or thinking habits.

For example, if you're in the habit of thinking that high school acquaintances remember all the embarrassing things that happened in that period of your life, then your default behavior when you encounter someone at the supermarket might be to pretend not to recognise them and turn down an aisle. If you challenge that assumption by reminding yourself that you dont really think about things other people did in high school, then your new default behaviour might be casual disregard for those people.

As an aside, for me personally "forcing" myself to do things doesn't work. For example, forcing myself to jog every day will make me miserable because I hate jogging. OTOH riding every day feels like a really satisfying achievement because I do really enjoy riding.

this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026

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