We are unable to freely, or even voluntarily, determine which force governs us. We must each apply ourselves to determine which will govern us at any decision point.

The specific decision regarding a question of, "How will I handle this situation", including be polite, rude, assertive, petulant, passive, and more, is determined by:

1.)  Our emotional state at that instant; 2.)  Our training & upbringing and conscious acceptance of standards to live by; 3.)  Our culturally accepted rules of engagement; 4.)  Our present-day friends and familial guidelines.

There are more aspects for another time.

These aspects integrate into a summary behavioral action.  This integration process is described by an algorithm containing these and other factors. Each factor has a coefficient and an exponent. Any of each coefficient and exponent may be near zero or near infinity at various times and most certainly vary greatly by individual. This algorithm applies throughout mankind's history.

Observe people's reactions while performing common, everyday tasks. Then, plug the perceived values in the algorithm to derive a speculative behavior.

Apply that procedure in the context of today's financial markets. Do not confine yourself to the universe of drivers and shoppers that you may observe daily.

Applying that procedure, there could be -- in the intermediate term, more easily provoked and more likely than in other periods -- a genuine financial market correction. There has not been a meaningful market correction since the bull market began in August, 1982. The last true correction was during the first half of the 1970s.

The dot-com bubble burst of the new millennium was only an adjustment to ferocious arrogance. It was not a correction wherein valuations were normalized.  That has yet to come.