Abstract

Historically, free will has been viewed, within much of philosophy and psychology, as an objective condition existing a priori to the individual. The current study examined free will as a belief that an individual can have. Under the auspice of this conceptualization, free will is proposed as a component for psychotherapy. The wording and phrasing that the therapist uses in therapy is proposed as being the vehicle for delivery of information about free will to the client. ;A measure of the free will belief was constructed to measure the impact of the guided imagery exercises, on three factors: emotive; cognitive; and conative. The experimental exercises implied either a: Free Will Condition; Determinism Condition; or Mixed Free Will/Determinism Condition. The exercises focused around a previous experience of the participants and asked the participants to recall and revise the experience under one of these conditions. ;Statistical analysis consisted of a one-way multivariate analysis of variance across the four experimental conditions, including a control condition. Univariate analyses of variance were conducted to follow-up on statistically significant differences. Standard errors of group scores were examined to gauge the largest level of belief confusion. ;The results demonstrated that individuals do possess beliefs about their levels of free will and that this belief is quantifiable. Participants of the Free Will Condition demonstrated a stronger free will belief about the self than did the other Conditions. Participants of the Determinism Condition demonstrated a stronger deterministic belief about the self than did the other Conditions. Participants of the Free Will/Determinism Condition did not demonstrate a preference for a free will or determinism belief. Consistent across all three experimental conditions was that the experimental condition had a greater effect on the participants' beliefs over their cognitive capacities than it did over their emotive capacities. Finally, it was found that when confusing, ambiguous, or inconsistent messages are given concerning free will, participants will maintain rather than alter their currently held beliefs. Implications are drawn for use of a free will belief in psychotherapy.