Behavioral science has made plain that individuals’ behavioral tendencies are influenced by genetics , as well as by factors in the environment tha...

While there are many reasons to believe that a person’s will is not completely free of influence, there is not a scientific consensus against free...

Determinism is the idea that every event, including every human action, is the result of previous events and the laws of nature. A belief in determ...

Yes. This is called “compatibilism” or “soft determinism.” A compatibilist believes that even though events are predetermined, there is still some...

The more people agree with claims of free will , some research suggests, the more they tend to favor internal rather than external explanations for...

One idea proposed in philosophy is that systems of morality would collapse without a common belief that each person is responsible for his actions—...

Mental illness can be thought of, in a sense, as involving additional constraints on the freedom of a person’s will (in the form of rigid thought p...

There is limited evidence that people who believe more strongly in free will may tend to perceive at least some kinds of choices—such as buying ele...

Two concepts from psychology that bear similarity to belief in free will are “ locus of control ” and “ self-efficacy .” Locus of control refers to...