这就像化身博士，一会儿是杰基尔博士，一会儿是海德先生一样，只不过较高层次的你意识不到较低层次的你。这一冲突是普遍存在的。如果你足够仔细地观察，你确实能看到人脑两个不同部分争吵的情况。例如，当一个人“对自己感到愤怒”时，他的前额皮层在和杏仁体（或者大脑其他较低层次的部分）争吵。当一个人问“我怎么放任自己把这一整块蛋糕都吃了”时，答案是：“因为较低层次的你战胜了深思熟虑的较高层次的你。” 一旦你理解了“有逻辑和有意识的你”与“情绪化和潜意识的你”是如何交战的，你就可以设想，你的“两个你”是如何同也有“两个自我”的其他人打交道的。那就是一团糟。较低层次的自我就像斗犬，始终保持战斗意识，而较高层次的自我则想把事情搞明白。这很容易让人困惑，因为不管是你还是你打交道的人，通常根本就不知道自己大脑里有这些较低层次的“野兽”，更不用说这些“野兽”在试图绑架所有人的行为了。
我们来看看当有人和你意见不同并要求你解释你的想法时，会发生什么。因为你的大脑构造让你把这样的做法视为攻击，所以你会变得愤怒，尽管你更合理的反应应该是对另一方的观点产生兴趣，尤其是当这些观点明智的时候。当你试图解释自己的行为时，这些解释令人无法理解。这是因为，在你愤怒时，是较低层次的你在试图通过较高层次的你说话，深植于你内心的各种隐蔽动因在控制你，导致你无法理性地解释“你”的行为。
连最聪颖的人通常也会表现出这样的行为，这很令人遗憾。要有效行事，你就绝不能允许“想要自己正确”的需求压倒“找出真相”的需求。如果你对自己掌握的知识和擅长的事情过于骄傲，你学到的东西就会变少，决策质量就会变低，也将难以充分发挥自己的潜力。
It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, though your higher-level you is not aware of your lower-level you. This conflict is universal; if you pay close enough attention, you can actually see when the different parts of a person’s brain are arguing with one another. For example, when someone gets “angry with himself,” his prefrontal cortex is sparring with his amygdala (or other lower-level parts of his brain). When someone asks, “Why did I let myself eat all that cake?” the answer is “Because the lower-level you won out over the thoughtful, higher-level you.” Once you understand how your a) logical/conscious you and b) emotional/subconscious you fight with each other, you can imagine what it’s like when your two yous deal with other people and their own two “thems.” It’s a mess. Those lower-level selves are like attack dogs—they want to fight even when their higher-level selves want to figure things out. This is very confusing because you and the people you are dealing with typically don’t even know that these lower-level beasts exist, never mind that they are trying to hijack everyone’s behavior. Let’s look at what tends to happen when someone disagrees with you and asks you to explain your thinking. Because you are programmed to view such challenges as attacks, you get angry, even though it would be more logical for you to be interested in the other person’s perspective, especially if they are intelligent. When you try to explain your behavior, your explanations don’t make any sense. That’s because your lower-level you is trying to speak through your upper level you. Your deep-seated, hidden motivations are in control, so it is impossible for you to logically explain what “you” are doing. Even the most intelligent people generally behave this way, and it’s tragic. To be effective you must not let your need to be right be more important than your need to find out what’s true. If you are too proud of what you know or of how good you are at something you will learn less, make inferior decisions, and fall short of your potential.
