Subjective correlates and consequences of belief in free will

At freedom's edge: Belief in free will during the COVID-19 pandemic

Among life-and-death health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic were frustrations about the loss of personal freedom due to emergency quarantine. To test these perceptions, two studies examined whether belief in free will was resilient during different points of the pandemic. In Study 1, conducted in 2020, participants completed a writing task describing their lives before the COVID-19 pandemic, during the COVID-19 pandemic while under emergency quarantine, and during the COVID-19 pandemic while under state re-openings. Following each task, they completed belief in free will measures. Results indicated that free will beliefs were higher before the pandemic than during emergency quarantine. Free will beliefs were also greater during state re-opening than during emergency quarantine. Belief in free will did not differ between pre-pandemic and state re-opening. Study 2 replicated and extended these effects two years later. These findings highlight the brief loss of freedom during COVID-19 as well as the resiliency of agentic control.

Free to be Healthy? Free Will Beliefs are Positively Associated With Health Behavior

Previous research has demonstrated that a stronger belief in free will contributes to a variety of socially desirable behaviors. We assessed the correlation between free will beliefs and health behaviors. Four studies (N = 1172) provide evidence that belief in free will is positively associated with health protective behaviors (e.g., physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, low fat diet) and negatively associated with health risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, unhealthy snacking). In relation to the respective health protective and health risk behaviors, we found free will beliefs were more strongly correlated with physical activity and alcohol consumption, respectively. We also found free will beliefs were associated with key social cognition determinants (e.g., attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention). Overall, our results suggest that belief in free will can have important consequences for health behavior. This contributes to current theorizing about the implications of believing in free will.

The value of believing in free will: A prediction on seeking and experiencing meaning in life

Despite abundant philosophical pondering and experiential evidence demonstrating the need for freedom in leading a meaningful life, the literature lacks an investigation of whether and how free will beliefs contribute to one's meaningful life as an antecedent variable. Based on the coupling of the life-affirming hypothesis and Chinese culture, we used a manipulation experiment (Study 1, n = 242) and a two-wave longitudinal study (Study 2, n = 378) to test the potential causality between laypeople's daily beliefs in free will and meaning in life (presence of and search for meaning) with two samples of Chinese undergraduates. The results show that belief in free will positively predicts the presence of meaning and search for meaning, immediately (Study 1) and 2 months later (Study 2). The present work corroborated that the belief in free will is an antecedent variable that imbues life with meaning and sparks actions seeking meaning, supporting the life-affirming hypothesis instead of the deficit-correcting hypothesis.

Social cognition, personality and social-political correlates of health behaviors: Application of an integrated theoretical model

OBJECTIVE

Dispositional, intra-personal constructs such as personality traits and generalized beliefs are consistently related to health behaviors, but relatively few studies have tested the theory-based mechanisms by which these constructs relate to health behaviors and compared them across behavior type. In the current study we tested an integrated theoretical model in which belief-based social cognition constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control) were proposed to mediate effects of personality traits (conscientiousness, extroversion) and socio-political beliefs (political beliefs, locus of control, free will beliefs) on participation in three health-related behaviors: physical activity, COVID-19 vaccination, and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction.

METHODS

Proposed integrated model effects were tested in a five-week prospective correlational study. Finnish residents completed measures of personality, socio-political, and social cognition constructs with respect to physical activity participation (N = 557), COVID-19 vaccination uptake (N = 1,115), and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction (N = 558) and self-reported their behavior at follow-up.

RESULTS

Structural equation models revealed direct effects of intention on behavior, and of social-cognition constructs on intention, across all behaviors. We also found indirect effects of political beliefs on behavior mediated by social cognition constructs and intentions for COVID-19 vaccination and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction behaviors, indirect effects of conscientiousness on behavior mediated by social cognition constructs and intentions for physical activity and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction behaviors, and indirect effects of health locus of control on behavior mediated by social cognition constructs and intentions for physical activity behavior. Finally, we found a negative total effect of populist beliefs on behavior for COVID-19 vaccination behavior.

CONCLUSION

Findings contribute to an evidence base for the effects of dispositional and social cognition constructs of health behaviors, point to a possible mechanism by which these generalized constructs relate to health behavior, and outline how the pattern of effects varies across the different behaviors.

Setting up and assessing a therapeutic education program for asthmatic patients

BACKGROUND

Asthma is a major public health issue. It remains uncontrolled, despite the availability of effective treatments. Appropriate education programs are required to improve the situation. The study aims to design and assess an educational program based on asthma patients' perceived needs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in the pulmonology department of the Hassan II University Hospital in Fez. A convenience sample of asthma patients, whether hospitalized or not, was recruited. Two hundred and twenty adult asthma patients completed an educational needs survey (ENS). An asthma knowledge questionnaire for adult patients was used to assess the program on the criterion of improving asthma knowledge. Data collected by ENS was analyzed by standard descriptive statistics. The Student's T test for paired samples was used to compare the means of the Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire scores before and after therapeutic education.

RESULTS

Most patients were married and residing in urban areas. The illiteracy rate was 50%. One patient was a regular smoker. 125 patients (56.82%) reported non-compliance to treatment. The pathophysiology of asthma (chronic airway inflammation, bronchial hyperreactivity, and bronchial obstruction), causes and complications, treatment (inhalation technique), asthma attacks and environmental management, lifestyle, and psychological support were the patients' main perceived educational needs. Based on these findings, an instructional program was created and evaluated with 30 patients. After the program, asthma knowledge increased significantly.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that an educational intervention can improve asthma knowledge.

The role of free will beliefs in social behavior: Priority areas for future research

Recent research has examined the consequences that holding views about free will has on social behavior. Specifically, through manipulating people's belief in free will, researchers have tested the psychological and behavioral consequences of free will belief change. However, findings of such manipulations have been shown to be relatively small and inconsistent. The purpose of this paper is to outline four key areas for researchers in this area to consider. We believe considering these areas will give a more nuanced understanding of the role of free will beliefs.

Impact of community well-being on individual well-being: A longitudinal multinational study with 155 countries

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the longitudinal relationship between subjective community well-being (CWB) (perception of freedom of choice and social support) and subjective individual well-being (IWB) (positive and negative affect). Using the World Happiness Report (2019), this study examined the subjective IWB and subjective CWB among 155 countries across an 8-year period. Using Latent Class Growth Analysis the results indicated that the 155 countries could be classified into three groups-countries reporting high freedom of choice and high social support, low freedom of choice and low social support, and low freedom of choice and high social support. From the results of both a multigroup Growth Mixed Model and a Growth Curve Model, the three groups were found to vary with respect to positive and negative affect with higher positive affect and lower negative affect reported in countries classified as high freedom of choice and high social support, lower positive affect and higher negative affect reported in countries classified as low freedom of choice and low social support, and lower positive and lower negative affect reported in countries classified as low freedom of choice and high social support. These results indicate that country's rated as allowing higher freedom of choice was associated with higher reported positive affect, and country's rated as having stronger social support systems was associated with lower ratings for negative affect.

Climbing the Invisible Ladder: Attenuating Belief in Free Will Reduces Subjective Perceptions of Social Mobility

Can belief in free will alter our perceptions of social mobility? Five studies manipulated free will beliefs and assessed subjective individual social mobility (Study 1), subjective social status across time (Study 2), objective social class 10 years (Study 3) and 20 years (Study 4) into the future, and counterbalanced subjective and objective social mobility measures (Study 5). Challenging free will beliefs reduced subjective perceptions of upward mobility in Study 1 and led to lower perceptions of subjective social status in the distant, but not in near future in Study 2. Studies 3 and 4 found that threatening free will beliefs did not influence perceptions of future objective social class. Study 5 revealed that weakening free will beliefs affected subjective and objective social mobility, with the latter under specific boundary conditions. The differential effects of belief in free will on perceived social mobility are discussed.

Manipulating Belief in Free Will and Its Downstream Consequences: A Meta-Analysis

Ever since some scientists and popular media put forward the idea that free will is an illusion, the question has risen what would happen if people stopped believing in free will. Psychological research has investigated this question by testing the consequences of experimentally weakening people's free will beliefs. The results of these investigations have been mixed, with successful experiments and unsuccessful replications. This raises two fundamental questions: Can free will beliefs be manipulated, and do such manipulations have downstream consequences? In a meta-analysis including 145 experiments (95 unpublished), we show that exposing individuals to anti-free will manipulations decreases belief in free will and increases belief in determinism. However, we could not find evidence for downstream consequences. Our findings have important theoretical implications for research on free will beliefs and contribute to the discussion of whether reducing people's belief in free will has societal consequences.

Predicting COVID-19 booster vaccine intentions

Achieving broad immunity through vaccination is a cornerstone strategy for long‐term management of COVID‐19 infections, particularly the prevention of serious cases and hospitalizations. Evidence that vaccine‐induced immunity wanes over time points to the need for COVID‐19 booster vaccines, and maximum compliance is required to maintain population‐level immunity. Little is known of the correlates of intentions to receive booster vaccines among previously vaccinated individuals. The present study applied an integrated model to examine effects of beliefs from multiple social cognition theories alongside sets of generalized, stable beliefs on individuals' booster vaccine intentions. US residents (N = 479) recruited from an online survey panel completed measures of social cognition constructs (attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and risk perceptions), generalized beliefs (vaccine hesitancy, political orientation, and free will beliefs), and COVID‐19 vaccine intentions. Social cognition constructs were related to booster vaccine intentions, with attitude and subjective norms exhibiting the largest effects. Effects of vaccine hesitancy, political orientation, and free will beliefs on intentions were mediated by the social cognition constructs, and only vaccine hesitancy had a small residual effect on intentions. Findings provide preliminary evidence that contributes to an evidence base of potential targets for intervention messages aimed at promoting booster vaccine intentions.

Belief in Free Will Is Related to Internal Attribution in Self-Perception

Past research indicates that individuals’ belief in free will is related to attributing others’ behavior to internal causes. An open question is whether belief in free will is related to the attribution of one’s own action. To answer this question, we tested two opposing predictions against each other by assessing the relation of belief in free will with the self-serving bias—individuals’ tendency to attribute personal success more strongly to internal forces and failure to external forces. The resource hypothesis predicts that a higher endorsement in free will belief relates to a lower self-serving bias. The intention attribution hypothesis predicts that belief in free will relates to higher internal attributions, as compared with external attributions, irrespective of success and failure. Meta-analytic evidence across five high-powered studies (total N = 1,137) supports the intention attribution hypothesis, but not the resource hypothesis (materials and data are available on the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/2a89c/ ).

Agency and self-other asymmetries in perceived bias and shortcomings: Replications of the Bias Blind Spot and link to free will beliefs

Bias Blind Spot (BBS) is the phenomenon that people tend to perceive themselves as less susceptible to biases than others. In three pre-registered experiments (overall N = 969), we replicated two experiments of the first demonstration of the phenomenon by Pronin et al. (2002). We found support of the BBS hypotheses, with effects in line with findings in the original study: Participants rated themselves as less susceptible to biases than others (d = –1.00 [–1.33, –0.67]). Deviating from the original, we found an unexpected effect that participants rated themselves as having fewer shortcomings (d = –0.34 [–0.46, –0.23]), though there was support for the target’s main premise that BBS was stronger for biases than for shortcomings (d = –0.43 [–0.56, –0.29]). Extending the replications, we found that beliefs in own free will were positively associated with BBS (r ∼ 0.17–0.22) and that beliefs in both own and general free will were positively associated with self-other asymmetry related to personal shortcomings (r ∼ 0.16–0.24). Materials, datasets, and code are available on https://osf.io/3df5s/.

What do people find most meaningful? How representations of the self and the world provide meaning in life

OBJECTIVE

Recent theories propose that global meaning in life (MIL) is based on feelings of coherence, purpose, and existential mattering. MIL has also been linked to mental representations-for example, beliefs, values, attitudes, and identities-that serve as "meaning frameworks" for interpreting the world and oneself. Combining these proposals, we predicted that beliefs, values, attitudes, and identities would foster a sense of MIL to the extent that they provide feelings of coherence, purpose, and existential mattering.

METHOD

Using multilevel path analysis, we tested within-person associations of coherence, purpose, and existential mattering with a sense of MIL across three studies (Study 1:208 US MTurk workers; Study 2:106 UK university students; Study 3:296 from a UK nationally representative Prolific sample). We explored the generality of these associations across mental representation types and individual differences.

RESULTS

Participants derived greater MIL most strongly from mental representations that provided sense of purpose, followed by existential mattering. Sense of coherence was less robustly related to MIL across mental representation types and religious orientation.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrating prior theorizing on MIL, we conclude that mental representations function as "meaning frameworks" to the extent that they provide feelings of purpose, mattering, and, sometimes, coherence.

How perceptions of autonomy relate to beliefs about inequality and fairness

Although inequality in the US has increased since the 1960s, several studies show that Americans underestimate it. Reasons include overreliance on one’s local perspective and ideologically-motivated cognition. We propose a novel mechanism to account for the misperceptions of income inequality. We hypothesize that compared to those who feel less autonomy, the people who believe they are autonomous and have control over their lives also believe that (1) income inequality is lower and (2) income inequality is more acceptable. Using a representative sample of 3,427 Americans, we find evidence to support these hypotheses.

The Illusion of Time: Testing the Bidirectional Relationship Between Belief in Free Will and Temporal Horizons

The current research examined the bidirectional relationship between belief in free will and perceptions of time. Studies 1 and 2 explored the association between free will beliefs (FWB) and future time perspective (FTP) in correlational and longitudinal studies, respectively. Results indicated a positive relationship between the two constructs. Study 3 manipulated FTP and assessed FWB. Study 4 manipulated FWB and assessed FTP about current goal-pursuit. While manipulating FTP did not directly influence FWB, attenuating FWB led participants to perceive time as more limited to accomplish their goals. Exploratory mediation suggests that the perception of increased paths to successful goal-pursuit accounts for this relationship. The interplay between FWB and FTP is discussed.

Neuroprediction and A.I. in Forensic Psychiatry and Criminal Justice: A Neurolaw Perspective

Advances in the use of neuroimaging in combination with A.I., and specifically the use of machine learning techniques, have led to the development of brain-reading technologies which, in the nearby future, could have many applications, such as lie detection, neuromarketing or brain-computer interfaces. Some of these could, in principle, also be used in forensic psychiatry. The application of these methods in forensic psychiatry could, for instance, be helpful to increase the accuracy of risk assessment and to identify possible interventions. This technique could be referred to as 'A.I. neuroprediction,' and involves identifying potential neurocognitive markers for the prediction of recidivism. However, the future implications of this technique and the role of neuroscience and A.I. in violence risk assessment remain to be established. In this paper, we review and analyze the literature concerning the use of brain-reading A.I. for neuroprediction of violence and rearrest to identify possibilities and challenges in the future use of these techniques in the fields of forensic psychiatry and criminal justice, considering legal implications and ethical issues. The analysis suggests that additional research is required on A.I. neuroprediction techniques, and there is still a great need to understand how they can be implemented in risk assessment in the field of forensic psychiatry. Besides the alluring potential of A.I. neuroprediction, we argue that its use in criminal justice and forensic psychiatry should be subjected to thorough harms/benefits analyses not only when these technologies will be fully available, but also while they are being researched and developed.

Addiction and Voluntariness: Five “Challenges” to Address in Moving the Discussion Forward

The question as to whether people with an addiction have control (and to what extent) over their addiction, and voluntarily decide to use substances is an ongoing source of controversy in the context of research on addiction, health policy and clinical practice. We describe and discuss a set of five challenges for further research into voluntariness (definition[s], measurement and study tools, first person perspectives, contextual understandings, and connections to broader frameworks) based on our own research experiences and those of others.

Laypersons' Beliefs and Intuitions About Free Will and Determinism: New Insights Linking the Social Psychology and Experimental Philosophy Paradigms

We linked between the social psychology and experimental philosophy paradigms for the study of folk intuitions and beliefs regarding the concept of free will to answer three questions: (1) What intuitions do people have about free will and determinism? (2) Do free will beliefs predict differences in free will and determinism intuitions? and (3) Is there more to free will and determinism than experiencing certainty or uncertainty about the nature of the universe? Overall, laypersons viewed the universe as allowing for human indeterminism, and they did so with certainty. Examining intuitions of prosociality, future orientation, learning, meaningfulness, human uniqueness, and well-being, ratings were highest in the indeterministic universe condition and lowest in the deterministic universe condition, both significantly different from the uncertain universe condition. Participants' free will beliefs had only weak impact on realism, happiness, and learning intuitions but did not reverse the general intuition favoring indeterminism and showed no impact on other intuitions.

Agency Beliefs Over Time and Across Cultures: Free Will Beliefs Predict Higher Job Satisfaction

In three studies, we examined the relationship between free will beliefs and job satisfaction over time and across cultures. Study 1 examined 252 Taiwanese real-estate agents over a 3-months period. Study 2 examined job satisfaction for 137 American workers on an online labor market over a 6-months period. Study 3 extended to a large sample of 14,062 employees from 16 countries and examined country-level moderators. We found a consistent positive relationship between the belief in free will and job satisfaction. The relationship was above and beyond other agency constructs (Study 2), mediated by perceived autonomy (Studies 2-3), and stronger in countries with a higher national endorsement of the belief in free will (Study 3). We conclude that free-will beliefs predict outcomes over time and across cultures beyond other agency constructs. We call for more cross-cultural and longitudinal studies examining free-will beliefs as predictors of real-life outcomes.

Does belief in free will make us feel good and satisfied?

Background

Recent studies have shown that maintaining a strong belief in free will may be associated with well-being at the workplace (Stillman, Baumeister, Vohs, Lambert, Fincham, & Brawer, 2010), more frequent attainment of pursued goals and emotional stability (Stillman, Baumeister, & Mele, 2011).

Participants and procedure

Two studies were conducted to investigate to what extent belief in free will (as opposed to belief in determinism) may be a good predictor of subjective well-being and ill-being (poor health condition). Study 1 investigated a sample of employees (N = 214): 106 women and 108 men. The second research was conducted among 436 students: 236 women and 198 men.

Results

The results of study 1 showed that those who believe in free will are satisfied with their lives and feel healthy. The results of study 2 showed that those who believe in free will feel better (have more positive emotions) and are more satisfied with their lives than those who believe in determinism.

Conclusions

Belief in free will has the potential for improving subjective well-being and belief in determinism (fate) lowers subjective well-being. What is more, the current study has also confirmed the results obtained by other researchers (Paulhus & Carey, 1994, Carey & Paulhus, 2013). The reliability of the free will subscale was replicated. Also, we confirmed a positive correlation between belief in free will and unpredictability, and between fatalistic determinism and unpredictability. The results of the present research proved that there is a need to develop and to promote belief in free will in societies and social policies because it can increase well-being.

Free Will and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction: The Not So Seductive Allure of Neuroscience and Its Modest Impact on the Attribution of Free Will to People with an Addiction

Free will has been the object of debate in the context of addiction given that addiction could compromise an individual's ability to choose freely between alternative courses of action. Proponents of the brain-disease model of addiction have argued that a neuroscience perspective on addiction reduces the attribution of free will because it relocates the cause of the disorder to the brain rather than to the person, thereby diminishing the blame attributed to the person with an addiction. Others have worried that such displacement of free will attribution would make the person with a drug addiction less responsible. Using the paradigmatic literature on the seductive allure of neuroscience explanations, we tested whether neuroscience information diminishes attributions of free will in the context of addiction and whether respondent characteristics influence these attributions and modulate the effect of neuroscience information. We performed a large-scale, web-based experiment with 2,378 German participants to explore how attributions of free will in the context of addiction to either alcohol or cocaine are affected by: (1) a text with a neurobiological explanation of addiction, (2) a neuroimage showing effects of addiction on the brain, and (3) a combination of a text and a neuroimage, in comparison to a control group that received no information. Belief in free will was measured using the FAD-Plus scale and was, subsequent to factor analysis, separated into two factors: responsibility and volition. The investigated respondent characteristics included gender, age, education, self-reported knowledge of neuroscience, substance-use disorder (SUD), and having a friend with SUD. We found that attributions of volition (in the cocaine-subsample) were reduced in the text and neuroimage-treatment compared to the control group. However, respondent characteristics such as education and self-reported knowledge of neuroscience were associated with lower attributions of responsibility for both substances, and education was associated with lower attribution of volition for the alcohol sub-sample. Interaction analyses showed that knowledge of neuroscience was found to generally decrease attribution of responsibility. Further research on attribution of free will should consider the effects of context and respondent characteristics, which appeared surprisingly larger than those induced by experimental treatments.

Free will beliefs predict attitudes toward unethical behavior and criminal punishment

Do free will beliefs influence moral judgments? Answers to this question from theoretical and empirical perspectives are controversial. This study attempted to replicate past research and offer theoretical insights by analyzing World Values Survey data from residents of 46 countries (n = 65,111 persons). Corroborating experimental findings, free will beliefs predicted intolerance of unethical behaviors and support for severe criminal punishment. Further, the link between free will beliefs and intolerance of unethical behavior was moderated by variations in countries' institutional integrity, defined as the degree to which countries had accountable, corruption-free public sectors. Free will beliefs predicted intolerance of unethical behaviors for residents of countries with high and moderate institutional integrity, but this correlation was not seen for countries with low institutional integrity. Free will beliefs predicted support for criminal punishment regardless of countries' institutional integrity. Results were robust across different operationalizations of institutional integrity and with or without statistical control variables.

Communicating the Neuroscience of Psychopathy and Its Influence on Moral Behavior: Protocol of Two Experimental Studies

Neuroscience has identified brain structures and functions that correlate with psychopathic tendencies. Since psychopathic traits can be traced back to physical neural attributes, it has been argued that psychopaths are not truly responsible for their actions and therefore should not be blamed for their psychopathic behaviors. This experimental research aims to evaluate what effect communicating this theory of psychopathy has on the moral behavior of lay people. If psychopathy is blamed on the brain, people may feel less morally responsible for their own psychopathic tendencies and therefore may be more likely to display those tendencies. An online study will provide participants with false feedback about their psychopathic traits supposedly based on their digital footprint (i.e., Facebook likes), thus classifying them as having either above-average or below-average psychopathic traits and describing psychopathy in cognitive or neurobiological terms. This particular study will assess the extent to which lay people are influenced by feedback regarding their psychopathic traits, and how this might affect their moral behavior in online tasks. Public recognition of these potential negative consequences of neuroscience communication will also be assessed. A field study using the lost letter technique will be conducted to examine lay people's endorsement of neurobiological, as compared to cognitive, explanations of criminal behavior. This field and online experimental research could inform the future communication of neuroscience to the public in a way that is sensitive to the potential negative consequences of communicating such science. In particular, this research may have implications for the future means by which neurobiological predictors of offending can be safely communicated to offenders.

The Freedom to Pursue Happiness: Belief in Free Will Predicts Life Satisfaction and Positive Affect among Chinese Adolescents

A small amount of research has examined the association between the belief in free will and subjective well-being (SWB) among Western laypersons from individualist cultures. However, no study has examined this association among participants from collectivist cultures (e.g., Eastern Asian cultures). Therefore, in this study, we explored this association among two large, independent cohorts of Chinese adolescents (N₁ = 1,660; N₂ = 639; high school students). The belief in free will was measured by a self-reported questionnaire (Cohorts 1 and 2) and a two-alternative forced choice question regarding the existence of free will (Cohort 2). SWB included cognitive well-being (life satisfaction) and affective well-being (positive and negative affect) in both cohorts. Data analyses indicated that a stronger belief in free will was consistently associated with higher life satisfaction and positive affect in both cohorts. Our investigation provides evidence supporting the cultural generality of the positive effects of believing in free will on SWB.

Disassociating the Agent From the Self

Undermining the belief in free will influences thoughts and behavior, yet little research has explored its implications for the self and identity. The current studies examined whether lowering free will beliefs reduces perceived true self-knowledge. First, a new free will manipulation was validated. Next, in Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to high belief or low belief in free will conditions and completed measures of true self-knowledge. In Study 2, participants completed the same free will manipulation and a moral decision-making task. We then assessed participants’ perceived sense of authenticity during the task. Results illustrated that attenuating free will beliefs led to less self-knowledge, such that participants reported feeling more alienated from their true selves and experienced lowered perceptions of authenticity while making moral decisions. The interplay between free will and the true self are discussed.

Neuroessentialism: Theoretical and Clinical Considerations

Neuroessentialism is the view that the definitive way of explaining human psychological experience is by reference to the brain and its activity. This leads to the view that psychological disorders, such as depression, are fundamentally brain disorders. Neuroessentialism has grown increasingly popular for academic and public audiences. It has also attracted critics. This article describes neuroessentialism, the reasons for its rising prominence, and the theoretical and clinical concerns it raises. It connects these concerns to evidence from empirical studies that suggest that neuroessentialistic conceptualization of depression can have negative clinical impacts that need to be considered by mental health professionals.