Belief in Free Will: Implications for Practice and Policy

Abstract

The conviction one holds about free will serves as a foundation for the views one holds about the consumption activities of other consumers, the nature of social support systems, and the constraints that should or should not be placed on industry. Across multiple paradigms and contexts, the authors assess people's beliefs about the control consumers have over consumption activities in the face of various constraints on agency. They find that beliefs regarding personal discretion are robust and resilient, consistent with their finding that free will is viewed as noncorporeal. Nonetheless, they also find that these beliefs are not monolithic but vary as a function of identifiable differences across individuals and the perceived cause of behavior, particularly with regard to physical causation. Taken together, the results support the general wisdom of libertarian paternalism as a framework for public policy and highlight current and emerging situations in which policy makers might be granted greater latitude.