FREEDOM TO CHOOSE…OR MAYBE NOT

The Illusion of Complete Freedom of Choice

On the surface, freedom to choose implies that a person can make decisions free from external constraints, whether they are political, cultural, or interpersonal. While this seems true from an observer's perspective, at the functional level—for the person actually making the choices—our decisions aren't as free as they appear.

Most of our thoughts and behaviors are determined by a complex psychological dynamic: the constant interplay between our conscious and unconscious minds.

Conscious Choices vs. Unconscious Reactions

There are certainly choices where we exercise a high degree of free will. These conscious choices are the product of habit, learning, and personal preference. Examples include everyday decisions like:

• What brand of peanut butter to buy.

• What music to listen to.

• What movie to watch.

  
  

For these, we do have a genuine freedom to choose.

However, for many other critical choices—like how we react to something another person says or how we feel about ourselves—our behavior is largely produced by unconscious dynamics that lie outside our awareness. Things trigger us, and we react automatically without much thought or agency. Base feelings are activated and get filtered up into conscious thoughts and behaviors without us ever realizing the true cause.

System 1 and System 2: The Two Minds We Use to Choose

This duality between the unconscious and conscious mind is described by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman as System 1 (thinking fast) and System 2 (thinking slow).

• System 1 is automatic, involuntary, and intuitive. It's the part of our mind that answers "2+2" instantly and generates immediate emotional responses. It handles most of our mental work.

• System 2 is effortful, deliberate, and analytical. It's the part we engage for complex computations and conscious self-control.

  
  

As Kahneman explains, we often believe we are making a deliberate System 2 choice when, in reality, our fast, intuitive System 1 has already guided the outcome based on reasons we aren't even aware of.

How Psychotherapy Helps Us Regain Control

If our reactions are so often automatic, can we ever gain more control? This is the primary goal of dynamic psychotherapy.

By helping a person understand their unconscious motivations and processes, psychotherapy works to make those automatic reactions less powerful. The ultimate aim is to bring unconscious drivers into the light, allowing a person to gain more conscious agency and, in turn, experience a truer freedom to choose.