Why do we do what we do?

The decision making process can be divided into two categories.

1. involuntary – action decisions
2. voluntary – reaction decisions

The involuntary – action decisions involves a biological complex consisting of the following: genes, proteins, hormones, chemical reactions, electrical activity – actions that depend on involuntary factors of which we have little or no control. The ability to control hormone secretions, electrical activity in the brain and genetic protein production is not possible to a degree that makes these actions malleable in our decision making process. Steven Pinker has discussed these innate factors in his excellent book ~ The Blank Slate. We are born with an involuntary template of decision making apparatus. This genetic component is as diverse as temperament, artistic ability, concept visualization, more than can be listed in this brief essay. These templates are strengthened during a child’s formative years by parents that have similar genetic templates; hence biological brain wirings are added as the child’s neural network matures. Not so much learned as inflicted involuntary. The mother has the greater input due to the fact her maternal hormones play a non-genetic role on the developing fetus. The mother’s gonadatropic hormone levels have an additional effect beyond direct genetic influences. For example a mother with a high estrogenic component will have a greater effect on her male offspring than her female offspring and if her gonadatropic androgenic component is higher it will have a more dramatic effect on her female offspring. A gonadatropic hormone level that matches the offspring’s sex will also be potentiating but with less noticeable effect. The hand that rocks the cradle does rule the world, at least in a biological sense.