People who believe in free will tend to feel more positive
People who believe more strongly in free will tend to feel better in their everyday lives, and experimentally encouraging these beliefs may increase positive feelings.
The research published in Social Psychological & Personality Science suggests that individuals who strongly believe in free will tend to experience more positive emotions in their daily lives. The study involved three separate analyses of existing datasets, including one with 429 German adults, another with 952 participants from six European countries, and a new experiment with 1,053 English-speaking adults.
Across all studies, participants rated their belief in free will on a scale of 1 to 7 and reported their momentary feelings of happiness and life satisfaction at various times throughout the day. The findings indicate that belief in free will is linked to greater positive affect, with the effect being strongest in the new experiment where participants who read scientific evidence supporting free will reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
The research suggests that encouraging a belief in free will may have a positive impact on people's emotional well-being.
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