Is there a formal term for beliefs that are the basis for doing something on ‘autopilot’

Question

By such beliefs I mean for example:

Every morning, when I wake up, I find myself in a supine position, lying on my back, staring at the ceiling, as I am a back sleeper. In those two or three seconds when I’m just staring at the ceiling, maybe rubbing my eyes to clear my vision, before I get into a seated position and then step up out of bed, I do not think (consciously) to myself “Yes below me is the floor of my bedroom, and not a pool of flowing lava or an abyss, and when I get to the seated position I will see the floor like it was the night before, and when I step out of bed I will not fall to my or get burned to death.”

Yet every morning, I get up, see the floor and am not surprised, and without even giving it a second thought, step out of bed unto my bedroom floor and get on with my day. Now there are obviously beliefs and assumptions behind almost every conscious human action. But as I said, I do such a thing every morning in what you can call ‘autopilot’. I just wanted to know if there is any writings or literature or terms discussing these sort of beliefs that are so embedded in us that more often than not we almost never realize that we actual;y hold them, and which contribute significantly to our interaction with the external world.

Thank you

Answer 1

It's a very interesting question.

I once believed that Benjamin Libet's experiment proved that our bodies are not controlled by our sense of self, because it clearly showed that the brain is dictating the body's responses before our sense of self.

But then I disproved that and realized that it was just a habit, that is, our self-consciousness sends a series of habitual routine instructions to the brain at once, and unless we deliberately change these habitual actions, they will all follow the plan, and the brain will always report the implementation, sometimes we are aware of these actions, sometimes we ignore them.

Because our self-consciousness has many more important things to think about and make decisions, this pattern of habitual actions is actually a self-optimization of the brain to save computing resources.

This is the situation you say, although we wake up every morning to make a series of the same actions, but this does not mean that it is a "autopilot" state, more should be seen as a "body trusteeship" state. When we put some of our body's habitual actions and reactions into a kind of custodial program, the brain has more energy to think about more important things, such as what to eat in the morning and how to start the day.

Of course, our bodies do have a state of "autopilot", but not often, but in the event of an emergency. For example, you wake up and find yourself in a strange environment that is not where you slept last night. At this point, you will subconsciously jump up and try to escape, until your sanity is completely restored, and you will calmly think about countermeasures.

The moment you jump up and try to escape, you are in a period of time that is not controlled by your self-consciousness, and this time you are controlled by the subcortical area. Another example is that you are walking in the street and a person suddenly rushes towards you at high speed, at this time you will subconsciously avoid, and your body is also controlled by the subcortical area of the brain, rather than self-awareness. It is a natural instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm.

There are many more examples of this entering the "autopilot" state, such as when you fall into severe hunger, you will lose your reason to find food without means. As long as it is instinctive, it can be said that it has entered a state of "autopilot".

Answer 2

Background beliefs (or assumptions). I tried to find a definition to back up my sense of this - for example, in an online cognitive science dictionary - but had no luck. But if you Google those terms, you will see them used in a variety of formal to less formal texts and I think in a way that covers/includes what you are describing here: unconscious assumptions/beliefs that guide actions on autopilot. Our givens.