Predictability

Life is complicated. There are thousands of different paths and destinations that we can end up on. One decision we make can alter the path that we are taking significantly.

There are many more options presented before us then we would ever consider. With each decision we have to make we normally narrow the choices down to two or three choices. This is a subconscious process with our minds quickly eliminating outlandish ideas.

What we do with the remaining choices is often very predictable. Everyone will react to situations differently then other people, but will react the same way when put in similar situations. The exception to this rule is when previous actions have resulted in harmful outcomes to ourselves. Human nature makes us want to do what is best for our self preservation. The more experiences we have the more that we understand what has the potential to injure us physically, emotionally, or whatever it may be.

As we drive this becomes very apparent. An individual may drive above the speed limit consistently for a long period of time, but the instant that the individual is caught and ticketed this behavior changes. For a small period of time at least. After a while the memory can fade and previous behaviors re-introduced.

The outward actions are a little more obvious to see this trend in ourselves. Sometimes it takes a lot more to see this in the emotional decisions we have to make, emotional decisions being those that don’t directly affect effect our physical self, but have other consequences effecting our happiness or emotional well-being.

What makes this one more difficult is that we don’t always understand what is going to be in our best interest with these decisions. When I am making the decision of when to cross the street I can tell when a car is going to hit me or not, so it becomes very easy. The emotional decisions often have factors that are beyond our control and which we cannot specifically determine till we take action.

We often calculate the outcomes of our various decisions and when we do this we usually come to the same conclusions. If someone has made fun of us for having a particular viewpoint then we probably won’t bring up that viewpoint again with that same person. Even if the other individual would have acted differently, we base our decisions on the past.

This is why it becomes easier to predict someones actions the more you get to know them. You begin to share the same experiences that they have and see how they react in different situations. Most people are not as complex as we make them out to be. It just means getting to know them, which a lot of people don’t take the time to do.

People are predictable and self protecting.