There's an old psychologist joke that I love for reasons relevant to the topic of free will. My apologies if you've heard this one before: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? One...but it has to want to change.
I'm biased, but I happen to think it's a great joke because it reveals a deep, fundamental truth in a playful way. As a psychologist who works with people who are seeking change, I must believe in some form of free will. That is, through conscious, deliberate efforts, we can change our lives in directions that we desire. This is in line with the Oxford Dictionary's definition of free will as the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.
That said, any discussion of free will can quickly become quite complicated. After all, there is a reason that philosophers, theologians, and scientists have argued for centuries about whether we have free will or our lives are determined in some way (i.e., free will vs. determinism). I don't have the audacity to believe that I can answer this question but, as we shall see, how we think about free will is critically important to our use of it.
You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice. If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill. I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose freewill. –From the song, "Freewill" by Rush
What Do We Mean by "Free Will"?
When we are seeking an answer to difficult questions in life, it's critical that we first define our terms. For example, if we were to discuss whether animals have emotions, we would have to agree with the definition of "emotion" on the front end. We open a can of worms when we try to define "free will" since it is a hypothetical construct whose meaning is inherently nuanced and debatable.Thus, we might disagree with others about whether we truly have free will merely because we are defining it differently. Even if we agree upon the Oxford Dictionary definition, there is still much room for interpretation. While most of us probably agree that we have some form of free will, it would be difficult to defend a view that free will means, "We are absolutely free to choose how we think, feel, and act at any moment in time no matter what."
Consider the following factors that would greatly affect how we could exercise our free will to choose our thoughts, feelings, and actions:
- We don't choose our genes, and those play a substantial role in our physical and psychological characteristics (e.g., intelligence has a large genetic component).
- We don't get to choose who our parents or family members are, whether we were born into wealth or poverty or with a genetic condition, etc.
- We don't get to choose when and where we are born (e.g., our lives would be vastly different if we were born as peasants in Medieval Europe during the Black Death).
- Disabilities, conditions, diseases, and characteristics can hinder or prevent someone from pursuing or succeeding in certain careers and endeavors (e.g., As per Federal Aviation Regulations, one cannot become a commercial airline pilot if legally blind).
- We are not free to be unaffected by traumaticevents or tragedies (e.g., war veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, we experience the death of a loved one).
- Our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are altered when we are ill, drunk, tired, thirsty, hungry, etc.
- We cannot totally suppress reflexive responses (e.g., one cannot suppress a startle reflex to an unexpected jump-scare).
- We engage in many habits, healthy and unhealthy, with little to no conscious deliberation.
- If I tell you not to think of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, you will think of him whether you want to or not...and you just did.
The Problem With Extreme Views of Having, or Not Having, Free Will
A belief in an extreme or absolute version of free will can be problematic in that it can lead one to disproportionately blame (or credit) others for their life circumstances and outcomes: "He chose not to get an education or work hard, and that's why he's living in poverty. It's his own fault." This can lead to victim-shaming as well as a lack of empathy, compassion, and support for people who are struggling. Conversely, those who become "successful" might misattribute the bulk of their success to their own efforts rather than acknowledging the many factors (e.g., intact family, genetics, supportive and involved family, highly educated parents, financial resources, good school/teachers/mentors, living in a democracy, luck) that contributed to their success story.While an absolutist view of free will might be untenable and problematic, a deterministic view, that we lack free will, might create even greater problems. Those who don't believe that they can exercise free will to make meaningful changes in their lives might internalize a "victim" or helpless mentality. They might point to their race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, appearance, upbringing, circumstances, bad luck, and so on and say things like, "I can't be successful because of _____. Other people get the lucky breaks, and I just have to accept my lot in life." In effect, they have given away their power to make changes because they believe change and growth are inherently outside of their control.
