Before You Know It Quotes

“Acknowledging that you do not have complete free will, or complete conscious control, actually increases the amount of free will and control you truly have.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“The most effective self-control is not through willpower and exerting effort to stifle impulses and unwanted behaviors. It comes from effectively harnessing the unconscious powers of the mind to much more easily do the self-control for you.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“The unconscious evaluation of everything does appear to be a very old and primitive effect that existed long before we developed conscious and deliberate modes of thought.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“When we do something others frown upon, we say “I didn’t mean it” or “I didn’t mean to,” and come up with extenuating causes or reasons for our behavior other than “Yeah, I meant to do that, and I wish I hadn’t gotten caught.”
One way to show yourself that you do often acknowledge other causes of your behavior besides your conscious intent is to appreciate that you invoke just these other causes when you don’t want to take ownership (blame) for your actions. Suddenly, you do believe that your actions can be caused by something other than your conscious intentions. But if you are honest with yourself, you will recognize that this principle should be applied just as much to your positive behaviors as to the ones you’d prefer to disown.”
― John Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“On any given day, how much of what we say, feel, and do is under our conscious control? More important, how much is not? And most crucial of all: If we understood how our unconscious worked—if we knew why we do what we do—could we finally, fundamentally know ourselves? Could insights into our hidden drivers unlock different ways of thinking, feeling, and acting? What might this mean for our lives?”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“Almost every generation believes that art and music and the work ethic and you name it aren't as good as they used to be ... historians have noted how the belief that society is changing for the worse is a constant going back thousands of years.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“Why do you suppose teenagers like scary horror movies so much? Because physiological arousal from watching, say, ax-wielding maniacs or malevolent spirits transfers into sexual feelings and attraction to the person they're seeing the movie with.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“When we come into the world, we have the innate tendencies, motivations, and goals that make up nature's effect, anticipating to some extent the general conditions of our life, but then nurture's effect takes over to adapt us to the actual conditions on the ground.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“We become what we become not only through our DNA or only through our environment, but through their interaction.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“When we trust another person, such as a friend to whom we tell something very private, we make ourselves vulnerable, but it is a risk we are willing to take in order to make that relationship even closer.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“We have this bias toward attractiveness because of out selfish-gene history: the unconscious mandate to reproduce, reproduce, reproduce, so that we as species don't go extinct. This deep-seated urge is so strong that studies have shown that men's mating motives are triggered by the mere presence of attractive women, even when they are trying to focus on something else.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“By using unconscious means to self-regulate, making "necessary evils" such as healthy eating and exercising and studying a routine part of their lives, they make the positive activities a routine habit so that they don't need to fight to get started, or overcome the disinclination to do them. Conscious and effortful self-control is too taxing and too unreliable, and as we know, vulnerable to rationalizations and excuses.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“los impulsos que motivan muchas de nuestras conductas diarias se originan en procesos mentales de los que no somos conscientes, por más que luego podamos comprenderlos con gran rapidez.”
― John A. Bargh, ¿Por qué hacemos lo que hacemos?: El poder del inconsciente

“As Eibach and colleagues point out, almost every generation believes that art and music and the work ethic and you name it are not as good now as they used to be, the moral climate has deteriorated, children are more spoiled now than they were twenty years ago, there is more crime, et cetera,”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do

“those basic human needs for safety, the longing for warmth and trust, a desire to live well and take care of the people we love.”
― John A. Bargh, Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do