"you don't have to choose between being scientific and being compassionate." -Robert Sapolsky

I have been fascinated by the human mind throughout my life. I grew up believing in the trite phrase "mind over matter" was 100% applicable to my struggles. Despite having that level of self-awareness, I was not able to fully peel back the layers behind my enigmatic and often refraining thoughts until I was in my early 20s.

Behave brings both science and humanity to the forefront of civilization, showing both the good and terrible things people are capable of doing. This book is fascinating and informative that it may as well be the "Behavior-Bible-for-nonbiologists." I've been rereading dense sections and critically grapple with how the research and anecdotes reflect the decisions that I make and have made in my own life.

I can reread this book several times and, I bet, digest new information each time. My ultimate takeaway this round: there are countless factors we cannot control which influenced our brain development as children; however, with awareness of all this complexity, we can, through experience and neuroplasticity, change ourselves, and thus change the worldview.

Some ideas and stories that sparked my curiosity:

• Sustained stress decreases our ability to process new information, therefore creating tendencies to act on old (and probably lousy) habits, as well as conform. It makes me wonder... are there studies that have "measured" chronic stress? 
• Us/Them-ing is an emotional and automatic reaction that occurs in milliseconds prior to our conscious awareness.
• Moral intuitions are a result of repeated experience and learning which, overtime, become automatic. Doing the right thing can be the easier thing if we exercise "doing the right thing" enough. 
• "The peril of empathy isn't simply that it can make us feel bad, but that it can make us feel good, which can in turn encourage us to think of empathy as an end in itself rather than part of a process, a catalyst." In other words, don't let yourself be a feelings sponge and wind up protecting yourself from feeling so strongly that no action is taken.

Given this 700-paged summary of human behavior and the brain, it is evident that the factors which determine our worst behaviors can also be forces for some of our finest behaviors. Armed with this knowledge, I am determined to move forward with even greater self-awareness (although I may never get to the bottom of the truth as to why I harbor certain perceptions, I know I have the capability to be better), and to remember that all the people who offend and hurt me are still fundamentally just like me. We are products of events that occurred prior to our birth, environment, and an abundance of factors out of our control. We simply do what we can in this particular stage of our life.