The Boss Theory

Scientific evidence suggests that our emotions not logic primarily drive our decision making. Additionally from personal experience we all know that emotions tend to well up on their own. We do not really decide when to be angry get offended or fall in love (all are controlled by brain chemistry). The inevitable conclusion is that “we” the conscious mind (the Self) have little actual control over the decisions we make. It is the unconscious mind (the Boss) that controls emotions thoughts and hence behavior. Consciously however we all strongly feel that “we” are in control. The Boss Theory resolves this fascinating paradox by adopting an evolutionary point of view. Our reproductive success is directly affected by our behavioral strategies. Therefore evolutionary goals must also control human behavior. The Boss Theory suggests that the Boss exerts this control mainly as follows: when we perform evolutionarily advantageous behaviors (e.g. working to elevate our status) the Boss rewards us with pleasure. When we don’t the Boss punishes us with pain. As a result our behavior ends up promoting our evolutionary goals even if this is at the expense of our long-term happiness.