In Chapter 7, we laid out a model that begins to describe how multiple motives are integrated. The justice motive theory is probably unique among dual-process theories in proposing that people in every encounter initially engage in preconscious processing of cues that define who deserves what from whom. If those encoded cues indicate that a person's deservingness is violated or in jeopardy they will automatically elicit justice imperatives: emotion-directed efforts to correct the injustice. Subsequent to this initial response, the person may engage in thoughtful, norm-dominated processing of motivationally relevant salient cues. In order for this secondary controlled processing to occur, there must be sufficient cognitive resources remaining after the person's initial automatic responses for him or her to attend to, and process, salient incentives and alternative courses of action: the greater the salient incentives and subsequent thoughtful deliberations, the greater the probability that some form of normatively appropriate self-interest rather than a justice imperative will shape the person's decisions and behavior.

It is obvious and important that people are often able to exert self-control and arrive at “wise” decisions concerning the most enlightened rational courses of action even while they are experiencing the presence of emotion-laden imperatives. The weaker the initial arousal and the more serious the perceived outcomes at stake, the greater the time and efforts employed to arrive at a wise or at least reasonable response.