You can figure people out if you understand what Will Storr calls the "theory of control." It helps explain the behavior of people like Donald Trump or fictional figures like Ebenezer Scrooge: "You can think about the brain as this machine for controlling the world. That's what we're all trying to do, that's what every living thing is trying to do, trying to control the world in order to get what they want." "Every human has this kind of set of ideas that dictates their behavior such that they get what they want. If you put Donald Trump and Gandalf in a room, they both want different things from the world." "A character is this kind of theory of control about how do they control the world. And the way to start off is with a really simple idea, ideally a one-sentence idea. This is my theory of how the world works." "Think about Scrooge in A Christmas Carol: I'm only safe if I keep all the money and love to myself. That's his theory of control. The only way he can protect himself and keep himself safe is by making sure he's got all the money." "Then, the three ghosts come along. They show him: these are the ramifications of your theory of control, this is the damage it's causing your life. And he learns and changes. Then by the end of the story, he's the opposite. He's very generous. And so he gets the rewards of the hero: he gets love, he gets status." @wstorr