As humans we have the capacity to think about what we do and make conscious decisions—what may be termed ‘reflective motivation’. So, apart from wants and needs, there are thought processes that create and compare evaluations: beliefs about what is beneficial or harmful and right or wrong. These processes underlie our conscious decision-making, when we weigh up the costs and benefits of courses of action or work out solutions to problems. We also have the capacity to plan ahead, and these plans form much of the structure of our behaviour over the course of minutes, hours, days, weeks and years.