For decades, psychology has examined the forces that drive human decision-making: impulse, motivation, cognitive load, emotional state, and the social cues that nudge us toward one behavior over another. What has changed, quietly, rapidly, and fundamentally, is the environment in which those decisions unfold.

We now live inside a behavioral laboratory that adapts to us in real time. The entire digital ecosystem has become a shape-shifting mirror, reflecting back our preferences, vulnerabilities, and aspirations with uncanny precision. And while that mirror feels convenient, it also exerts a pull powerful enough to erode something essential: our ability to choose freely.

What we are witnessing is the convergence of two accelerating forces. The first is generative hyper-personalization, AI systems that model our inner states with a fidelity that surpasses even our own awareness. The second is agency decay, the gradual weakening of our capacity to initiate action without algorithmic support. The........

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