We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. —Kahlil Gibran

The autopilot brain makes preconscious, automatic judgments and behavior choices, predicting the future, based primarily on past perceptions and experience. Most behavior is directed by implicit assumptions and judgments and by conditioned responses and habits.

Most behavior choices are not consciously decided, even when acted out consciously. For example, I’ve already chosen to say good morning to my wife and how I’ll say it, how I’ll feel about it, and what my tone of voice will be before I consciously decide to do it. Because self-evaluation is in the reflective brain, I’ll be bewildered, if not offended, if she accuses me of a surly tone of voice.

The reflective brain controls conscious thinking, appraisals, assessments, judgments, and insight, mediated by values and social context. It’s more powerful but much slower than the........

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