You've touched upon the idea of people unwilling to admit that they are in control of their own actions. I read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell recently. He posted a

You've touched upon the idea of people unwilling to admit that they are in control of their own actions. I read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell recently. He posted an exercise where by the end of it, it revealed certain internal biases I have towards black people people, namely that there's internal friction to associating positive words with black people as compared to association with white people (I'm not white). I don't consider myself deliberately racist to black people. However, when I consider the representations of black people I get to see, it's usually negative (in the news, TV/movies) vs. the wide gradient I see for white people. I know I unconsciously make connections between concepts, such as when I'm learning a new programming language, practicing an instrument, or reading article after article about a certain topic. I don't need to state a = b, because my mind will often make the connection for me. Given the amount of money and time invested in ads, surely I'm also influenced by messages that I consume and that they can affect how I connect certain concepts. I've been able to attempt to counter it is to practice mindfulness, in order to be more conscious of these thoughts and question why certain feelings erupt. Additionally, reading more about automatic thoughts and the biases that influence them. Lastly, detaching myself from sources of 'bad' information, namely minimizing usage of Facebook Mobile (filled with ads) and television.