After training at the prefrontal gym, you might still crave the chocolate cake, but you’ll know how to win over the craving instead of letting it win over you. It’s not that we don’t want to enjoy our impulsive thoughts (Mmm, cake), it’s merely that we want to endow the frontal cortex with some control over whether we act upon them (I’ll pass). Similarly, if a person considers committing a criminal act, that’s permissible as long as he doesn’t take action. For the pedophile, we cannot hope to control whether he is attracted to children. As long as he never acts on it, that may be the best we
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