~ T-V-B-FA-S/K-R ~ The – Vain – Brain – For A –Softer / Kinder – Reality

~ TBISVVTIECTLTAIYNTBMATTTD ~ The Brain Is So Very Vain That It Even Considers The Letters That Appear In Your Name To Be More Attractive Than Those That Don’t

~ TBIESAW-PP-CDAS-BTTE ~ The Brain Is Especially Self-Advancing When – Poor Performance – Could Deliver A Substantial – Bruise To The Ego

~ BCO-PB-I-MAR-TBC-SEACTT-BAOATW-MFA-S-K-A-AMPR ~ By Calling On – Powerful Biases – In – Memory And Reasoning – The Brain Can – Selectively Edit And Censor The Truth – Both About Ourselves And The World – Making For A – Softer – Kinder – And – Altogether More Palatable Reality

~ F-IPTGEOTE-A-TWTVBDIBTBTDATUG ~ Failure – Is Perhaps The Greatest Enemy Of The Ego – And – That’s Why The Vain Brain Does It Best To Barricade The Door Against This Unwelcome Guest

~ M-IOOTEGA-GT-AO-TTSAFFITBC-W-BS-HAHO-SA-~ Memory – Is One Of The Ego’s Greatest Allies – Good Things – About Ourselves – Tend To Secure A Firm Foothold In The Brain Cells – While – Bad Stuff – Has A Habit Of – Slipping Away

~ M-BTTFTMTBMTS-CYATTA ~ Memory – Brings To The Fore Those Memories That Best Match The Self-Concept You Are Trying To Achieve

~ OS-STTBAAABOFMIOPCDUTRT ~ Our Self-Serving Tendency To Blame Anything And Anyone But Ourselves For Mistakes In Our Past Can Doom Us To Repeat Them

~ I-O-UE-A-O-WAL-WS-TUU-H-TBDHAHSIPTMSM-WWFWA-CTBM-WA-VOAL-UR-AWQCOF-‘WOR’-IPWKO-AFBTF-O-STA-OO-D-IM-H-T-WOR-ISSMTTEB ~ Inevitably – Our – Unrealistic Expectations – And – Our – Weaknesses And Limits – Will Sometimes – Trip Us Up – However – The Brain Does Have A Helpful Strategy In Place To Minimize Such Mishaps – When We’re Faced With A – Choice To Be Made – We Actually – View Ourselves And Life – Unusually Realistically – As We Quietly Contemplate Our Future – “Window Of Realism” – Is Presumably What Keeps Our – Aspirations From Becoming Too Fanciful – Our – Strivings Too Absurd – Once Our – Decision – Is Made – However – The – Window Of Realism – Is Snapped Shut More Tightly Than Ever Before

~ TEB:SFIATP ~ The Emotional Brain: Sweaty Fingers In All The Pies

~ O-E-FWOPWAEL:FT-SS-TT-RAC ~ Our – Emotions – Fiddle With Our Psychological World At Every Level: From The – Seemingly Straightforward – To The – Rich And Complex

~ SCR:HMSIS ~ Skin Conductance Response: How Much Someone Is Sweating

~ IW-MOETTWS-TISFSOOTTOTIACOSOF-TECBCFTO-JAD ~ If We – Misattribute Our Emotion To The Wrong Source – Thinking It Stems From Some Origin Other Than The One That Is Actually Causing Our Surge Of Feeling – This Error Can Be Carried Forward To Our – Judgments And Decisions

~ E-MEE-IP ~ Even – Mildly Experienced Emotions – Influence Perception

~ O-D/O/M-CABSABOEU-OWOEN ~ Our – Decisions / Opinions / Memory – Can All Be Set Adrift By Our Emotional Undercurrents – Often Without Our Even Noticing

~ IIO-F-NMHT-TLUKWAA ~ It Is Our – Feelings – No Matter How Trivial – That Let Us Know We Are Alive

~ TMIOTWASTMFODP-FWSWPO-F-WSATCT-L-I-S-M-U ~ The Myriad Injustices Of The World Are Simply Too Much For Our – Delicate Psyches – Faced With Some Wretched Prey Of – Fate – We Struggle Against The Conclusion That – Life – Is – Savagely – Mercilessly – Unfair

~ III-I/TD/TMT-T-FFAVWTBW-T-RTFRS-O-T-RTOTB-TW-S-T-A-E-S-WPOTTHBTMOT-SSIONTBIA-JW-(SO-W-T-TNFOOO-ML-J/H/H/S/C)-TWYTTMCDT-BTHTBP ~ If It Is – Impossible / Too Difficult / Too Much Trouble – To – Fight For A Victim’s Wrong To Be Righted – To – Recompense Them For Their Suffering – Or – To – Relieve Them Of Their Burden – Then We – Succumb – To – Another – Easier – Strategy – We Persuade Ourselves That They Have Brought Their Misfortune Onto Themselves – So Strong Is Our Need To Believe In A – Just World – (Since Otherwise – We – Too – Through No Fault Of Our Own – Might Lose – Job / Home / Health / Sanity / Child) – That We Yield To The More Comfortable Delusion That – Bad Things Happen To Bad People

~ B-WASBTH-TSOOPSMAT-OSTT-C-S-ST-WWAITO-B-SAC-WWFOO ~ But – We Are Strangely Blind To How – The Subtleties Of Other People’s Situations Might Affect Them – Our Sensitivity To The – Context – So – Sharply Tuned – When We Apply It To Ourselves – Becomes – Sloppy And Careless – When We Focus On Others

~ TSIOOPIMTATETOWWFOOOTA-WGOLCFTGITWGOFOO ~ The Sheer Invisibility Of Other People’s Intentions Make Them All Too Easy To Overlook When We Form Our Opinions Of Their Actions – We Give Others Less Credit For Their Good Intentions Than We Give Ourselves For Our Own

~ TMOIVIEDOBTNDOOC ~ The Murmur Of Internal Virtue Is Easily Drowned Out By The Noisy Demands Of Our Circumstances

~ TS-EDOTHB-TK-IAITATO-S-IFDTPTS-I ~ The Self-Enhancing Distortions Of The Human Brain – This Knowledge – Is Almost Impossible To Apply To Oneself – Somehow – It Fails Dismally To Penetrate The Self-Image

~ EWWGSTT-O-C-DCAA-CLUIWEAO ~ Even When We Genuinely Seek The Truth – Our – Careless – Data Collection And Appraisal – Can Leave Us In Woeful Error About Ourselves

~ OB-OA-ETMEB-EAUDOPFRAR-TB-E/T/D/M/EMUE-ASTWCRTSSOBITR ~ Our Beliefs – Once Acquired – Even The Most Erroneous Beliefs – Enjoy An Undeserved Degree Of Protection From Rejection And Revision – The Brain – Evades / Twists / Discounts / Misinterprets / Even Makes Up Evidence – All So That We Can Retain That Satisfying Sense Of Being In The Right

~ ETFWOB-IQWTTMBC-C-OTOH-MSTCIAETWPNBAI-PCWUHTBEMSASC ~ Evidence That Fits With Our Beliefs – Is Quickly Waved Through The Mental Border Control – Counterevidence – On The Other Had – Must Submit To Close Interrogation And Even Then Will Probably Not Be Allowed In – People Can Wind Up Holding Their Beliefs Even More Strongly After Seeing Counterevidence

~ ERASTTEOE ~ Even Rats Are Susceptible To The Expectations Of Experimenters

~ T-IB-RIO-WOSE-DFT-FCE-TWSGAC-(A-ASMFTII)-YCTTTIFA-T-WOE-ISETSTBWI ~ The – Initial Belief – Recruits Its Own – Web Of Supporting Evidence – Derived From The – Facile Causal Explanations – That We’re So Good At Creating – (And – Are So Much Fun To Indulge In) – You Can Then Take The Initial Fact Away – The – Web Of Explanation – Is Strong Enough To Support The Belief Without It

~ IIHNTTTEETHAU-PAAWTMLSLC ~ It’s Human Nature To Try To Explain Everything That Happens Around Us – Perhaps As A Way To Make Life Seem Less Capricious

~ TTIOEMBIOB ~ Trivial Things In Our Environment May Be Influencing Our Behavior

~ S-C-‘MM’-BFWU-EQMFOS-CLYIASWSSFASAOS-RAC-TISNEWTGA-PTMIFACOT ~ Self Control – “Moral Muscle” – Becomes Fatigued With Use – Even Quite Modest Feats Of Self-Control Leave You In A Surprisingly Weakened State So Far As Subsequent Acts Of Self-Restraint Are Concerned – There Is Simply Not Enough Willpower To Go Around – Pick The Most Important Fight And Concentrate On That

~ TUOSPIWOYHASHORTTCEBY ~ The Unconscious Only Starts Pulling Its Weight Once You Have A Solid History Of Resisting Temptation Through Conscious Effort Behind You

~ TSINJTMA-R-YMAWO-E-HAW-YWDI-A-‘II’-WTW-B-HOCTTFU ~ The Secret Is Not Just To Make A – Resolution – You Must Also Work Out – Exactly – How And When – You Will Do It – An – “Implementation Intention” – Work Their Wonders – By – Handing Over Control To The Faithful Unconscious

~ EAWMSOTMIDOOL-WABUSBTBCC ~ Even As We Make Some Of The Most Important Decisions Of Our Lives – We Are Being Unwittingly Swayed By The Brain’s Capricious Concerns

~ ME-TMOB-E/M/S/S/ASO-LSOTE-W-WAAOTPTIU ~ Mental Events – That Manipulate Our Brains – Emotions / Moods / Schemas / Stereotypes / And So On – Lose Some Of Their Effect – When – We Are Aware Of Their Potential To Influence Us