He suspiciously controls the automatics, unconsciously hoping it will prove doing worse than himself would have, but then anxiously controlling it not beeing completely sure if he's right or the system will prove him wrong by working better or even in a way he has not anticipated.
Another effect of this is with repetitive situations like that, and with most of these having the automation working satisfactory, most pilots lose their defiance to some sort of resignation and boredom ("so what...") which leads to distancing himself from the system, not keeping up to date in training, which finally leads to what is discussed here, complacency.
Very insightful. Relatively new to the world of massive automation, I've been trying to quantify and figure out the obtuse interactions I've seen some crewmembers have with the aircraft. (Company grew up on 1st generation Boeings, transitioned to A320 just a few years ago, the heartburn continues) That makes perfect sense.