There have been brain experiments that suggest you make your decisions before your brain consciously articulates the decisions and reasons for them.
I’ve known people who I’m pretty confident make up reasons for their choices after the fact. But are they really lying if they believe what they’re saying?
The question is, am I any different than them? When I think about the reasons I made past choices, how can I be sure I’m not just making up shit now?
No, I’m not high. I haven’t had drugs in almost a week.
You’d probably be interested in relational frame theory.
It explains why people may be unconscious of their motivations. But it doesn’t rely on explaining the human experience in terms of brains and neurons. Instead, it explains the human experience in terms of thoughts and cognitive rules.
It’s a bit like the difference between a chemist and a historian. You could explain 9/11 in terms of chemical reactions, or in terms of the political pressures.
To be clear, both are useful.
But for some reason, psychological chemists often overshadow psychological historians. Or, more appropriately, biopsychology often overshadows functional-contextual psychology.