5.1 Conscious imitation. Imitation is the base mechanism for acculturation. We act like our parents, our teachers, our heroes. We begin imitation at birth! As we get older we begin to pick our heroes and select between competing role-models. Although our selection of someone to emulate is often strongly influenced by prior-learned values, this is not consistently the case, nor are ANY heroes perfect models of those values. I may have been raised to respect scientists, but it only takes a single experience of some poem for me to decide to emulate the sensitivity of a gifted literary figure. Every culture has multiple (often conflicting) models, so this process of imitation can move me beyond my previous 'self-state'. This can create a movement of transcendence, and a distancing of me-today from me-tomorrow.

5.2 Visualization of alternative futures. This is the ability of the mind to visualize, articulate, conceptualize, or even plan an alternative future. Wishful thinking, daydreams, empathetically enjoying advertisements, etc. are all instances of this factor. I can take any situation I am in, "complain" about it, and think about 'how good it would be IF...'. The very act of visualization begins change, as the data of placebos and psychosomatic medicine amply testifies to. This creates distance between where I am today (and the trajectory that the 'cultural' might be trying to force me into) and where I may be tomorrow. [Actually, some change is immediate--at the sub/un-conscious level, the conscious events will 'program' sub-conscious processes.]

5.3 Self-usage of Labeling theory. This is related somewhat to the 'positive thinking' themes and somewhat to "labeling" theory in the social sciences. A familiar example of this is where someone writes statements of affirmation (e.g. "I am a good planner, and can focus well on details" or "I respond to others with empathy, in situations of crisis") and literally speaks these to themselves in the mirror each day. This can be seen as a special case of alternative futures, of course, but it seems slightly different. It plays upon subconscious elements that will 'move us' toward the words, images, and labels that are applied to us. Related to this is what used to be called "labeling theory" from psychology--how labels can become self-fulfilling prophecies (such as 'gifted' or 'slow learner'). The ability of the self to 'move toward' labels that are SELF-IMPOSED is a sample of freedom to step ahead of one's self, to actually change one's self.

5.4 Logical and conditionalizing operators in the language (e.g. negation, subordination, bounding). This is a power of language itself--the power to transform 'culturally obedient' statements into something radically opposite by the simple linguistic movement of adding a negation operator! Many truths taught by the 'culture' can be simply denied, subordinated to personal preferences, trivialized by "a thousand qualifications," or rendered sterile by circumscribing boundary statements. The simple language faculty itself--considered to be the instrument of absolute cultural power in some veins of postmodernism (!)--can generate heresies of infinite variety and seductive power...Language is a vehicle of both subjugation AND emergence, and the "rebellious" use of it (spontaneous or calculated) injects 'transcendence' into the relationship between "me, the linguistic creator" and "me, the social product". I--with a turn of phrase-- can create freedom in my own head, and transcend (temporarily) my inculcated meta-narrative (smile).

5.5 Pre-built biological forces (e.g. adolescence, mid-life). There are at least two (and possibly three) biologically-induced periods of self-criticism and self-negation: "teenage" adolescence, "mid-life crises", and (possibly) "first adolescence" (2-3 year olds). In the case of teenage adolescence, the self literally negates the culturally-inculcated 'self' that is reflective of non-conscious choices. The teenager is able to reject the values of parents, teaching, institutions--all of which are found INSIDE him or her! This biological stage almost appears to be a 'forced transcendence', a way in which temporary freedom from the heredity/environment tyranny is created, and a 'different' self is created in conflict/cooperation with the prior self. In some real sense the prior self may be called socially-constructed (at least to a high-degree), but after the processes of adolescence have worked their magic, the self that emerges has some distinctively new traits. This same time-release 'phase' of freedom can be seen in mid-life, in which all the prior value structures are ruthlessly examined from (typically) an altogether different value grid! And it is possible that the period known in some "early childhood development" writers as "first adolescence" (e.g. Dodson) manifests some aspects of this transcendence. Indeed, it is this author's experience of this phenomena in his own children ("no!") that confirms this element anecdotally for him. I am not surprised at all that this 'rejection' of imposed values occurs PRECISELY at the time the categories are changing from 'natural' (undeniable) to 'technical' (socially/culturally constructed or configured).

5.6 Historically inevitable paradigm/value crisis events (e.g. bereavement, treachery, retirement). It is well known that crises, rites of passage, and major role/function modifications often provoke deep self-analysis, value examination, goal questioning, and self-transformation initiatives. Many (if not most) of these events are experienced by the vast majority of people--bereavement of family, changes in marital status, retirement, betrayal in relationships, victimization by criminal acts, fortune reversals, changes in primary group membership. All of these have the effect of provoking some type of re-calibration of values, goals, and priorities. Each time self-reflection or self-judgment occurs, freedom is temporarily there.

5.7 The inconsistency of the self. One of the major problems (in my opinion) of causal, deterministic, or radical conditioning theories is that the self is assumed to be totally integrated (acting like a unit), totally consistent in the performance of its operations (without conflicting goals and operations going on at the same time), thorough in its execution of its plans (without stopping, without negotiation of compromise goals), and complete in execution of all the implied details (implying full awareness of what the resultant universe is to look like!). I find it impossible to believe that ANY ONE of these assumptions are true--much less ALL of them, in EVERY decision! The self is simply not that monolithic, not that efficient, not that robotic to pull off such a thing...

5.8 The inconsistency of ANY culture. This is the problem with the other end of the alleged 'causal' chain from culture to self. Cultures can be modeled monolithically, of course, but we must be clear that there is no such thing as a 'uniform culture'. The self lives in multiple, poorly integrated, and often conflicting sub-cultures, some of which may only be secondary groups (e.g. a newspaper staff) and some of which may be idealized groups (e.g. some literary elite). To speak of a 'culture' or 'society' absolutely dominating all individuals within its kingdom may be a powerful image or metaphor--but it should be recognized as anthropomorphism and oversimplification to the point of distortion.