Good morning, class. Here's today's assignment...
Write the following on a sheet of paper:
family, friends, social groups, society, work, boss, genes, memes, government, corporations, advertising, religion, money, materialism, hedonism, sex, love, addictions, greed, fear, expectations, inertia.
Now, for each item on the above list, answer the following questions:
In what ways does this thing affect or control you, by encouraging or discouraging certain behaviors? Would you prefer if your behavior wasn't affected in these ways? If so, what can you do to eliminate or mitigate the impact of this thing?
(Also feel free to add any other external factors not on this list that exert influence over your behavior.)