Leading from behind: How the symbolic self exerts its free will

Relatively little is known about how people conjure up life goals and directions. Herein, we first describe the recent goal breakthrough model, which depicts goal selection as a creative process involving dissatisfaction, preparation, incubation, illumination, goal articulation, and goal elaboration. Then, we show how the goal breakthrough model concurs with known brain network functioning and adheres to the compatibilist philosophy understanding of free will. Still, the model does not yet reference the psychological self, the erstwhile entity that desires autonomy and free will. To address this gap, we provide an updated account of the human symbolic self, which links “I’s” and “Me’s,” cybernetic theory, self-determination theory, narrative and dialogical theories, and relevant brain theories. We next integrate this understanding of the symbolic self with the goal breakthrough model, drawing on literature that demonstrates how the symbolic self directly influences its own choices through executive processes operating during the model’s explicit cognition stages (namely, preparation, goal articulation, and goal elaboration). However, the symbolic self can also indirectly affect implicit cognition (during incubation and illumination) through conscious thought and global broadcasting. Our analysis provides a more secure ontological status for the human self as a free agent, not just a passive onlooker.