As discussed in the prior blog Free Will is the concept that an individual makes their own choices and decisions, independent of external forces or predetermined outcomes.  Thinkers like Aristotle and Plato explored voluntary actions and rational control. 

In today’s blog I want to discuss some factors that aren’t the first to come to our mind that play a factor of how we act and why we act the way we do. 

Mental disorders like Depression, Anxiety, Obsessive compulsive disorder , Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder are a few of many affectors that don’t allow an individual to truly have free will. A mental disorder can control a person in a bigger manner,therefore an individual is acting as a result of the disorder and not the desired way they wish too. 

Religion is often another huge factor that adjusts our free will. Religion and faith provides a framework or guidelines in which we are rooted in. They shape our decision making and although we have free will, people will act in a way that their choices align with those religious or moral beliefs. Which I would argue is no longer free will, because you are thinking of a high God who you want to please, and you don’t always perform actions you want to because you have an understanding that those actions don’t align with that established faith. 

Another external factor I’d like to bring an emphasis on is genetics. In an article by Psychology Today they wrote,         “ Behavioral science has made plain that individuals’ behavioral tendencies are influenced by genetics, as well as by factors in the environment that may be outside of a person’s control. This suggests that there are, at least, some constraints on the range of decisions and behaviors a person will be inclined to make (or even to consider) in any given situation. Challengers of the idea that people act the way they do due to conscious, unconstrained choices also point to evidence that unconscious brain activity can partly predict a choice before a conscious decision is made. And some have sought to logically refute the argument that choices necessarily demonstrate free will.” Genetics can form personality traits and cognitive abilities to certain behaviors. I once heard someone say that although genetics don’t exactly control your decisions, they bring path for tendencies that make one choice more likely than another. Once again not gilding the philosophy of free will.

Free Will | Psychology Today