*Well, I wouldn't necessarily say "most" of the time, but I
   would say "some" of the time, yes. There's the N400. There's a
   moment of choice - always a moment of choice when faced with
   novel input.

   I"m not speaking of patterns - scripts people play, habituated
   behaviors. That's known and easily manipulated. I could write
   books on that alone. It's one of my favorite topics, especially
   when the linkup to the monomyth and how influential that is in
   the way we frame our existences as "stories" and such.

   Myself, I've been in a process of stripping away the stories,
   only to find more stories to be stripped away and taken into
   account.

   So yes, they're real Influencers: When we're running on
   automatic, playing our roles as it were.

   BUT: barring tangible, biochemical pathway issues, is there free
   will?

   Yes, there is. A moment of clarity. There can be many moments of
   clarity with practice.*

   It's still in there. It's never gone - just hiding perhaps. It's
   easier to play the scripts.   Did I share this yet?
   [1]http://www.au.af.mil/.../milreview/paparone_metaphors.pdf*-
   metaphors. I believe we are led and misled and in fact do much
   of our learning (if not all) via metaphors overlaying on
   metaphors. So much so that we often misplace the originals but
   they're still there.

   To me, the fact that there *are* manipulation machines, doesn't
   take away free will existing.

References

   Visible links
   1. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/milreview/paparone_metaphors.pdf