Do You Believe in Free Will?
Choice, causes, fate and pure chance - and how much of each you think runs a life
Philosophers have argued about free will for two thousand years, but everyone carries a working answer, and it quietly shapes how you judge other people and yourself. When psychologists measured these everyday beliefs, they found four separate ones that do not cancel each other out: many people believe in free will and in the power of genes and upbringing at the same time. This test shows your own mix.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
There are no right answers here - these are beliefs, not knowledge. Go with what you actually think, not with what you have read you should think.
What it measures
The four beliefs of the FAD-Plus: free will, scientific determinism (genes, brain and environment drive behaviour), fatalistic determinism (events are destined) and unpredictability (much of life is chance). It differs from the locus of control test on this site, which asks how much control you feel over your own outcomes; this one asks what you believe about human behaviour in general.
Based on: Free Will and Determinism Plus, FAD-Plus (Paulhus & Carey, 2011)
Possible results
Free will
How strongly you believe people genuinely choose, and could have chosen otherwise.
Scientific determinism
How much you think genes, the brain and environment explain what people do.
Fate
How much you believe events are destined to happen whatever anyone does.
Unpredictability
How much you think life is shaped by chance that no one could foresee.
Common questions
Can you believe in free will and determinism at the same time?
Yes, and most people do. When Paulhus and Carey measured these beliefs, free will and scientific determinism came out as largely separate factors rather than two ends of one line. Philosophers call the reasoned version of this compatibilism: the idea that a choice can be caused and still be yours.
Does believing in free will make people behave better?
The evidence is weaker than it once looked. A widely cited 2008 study found that reading an argument against free will led people to cheat more, but a 2020 set of larger replication studies did not find the effect. Belief in free will may relate to how people judge responsibility, but it is not a reliable lever for honesty.
Is this the same as locus of control?
No, though they are related. Locus of control is about your own life: whether you feel your outcomes depend on your actions or on outside forces. Free will beliefs are about human behaviour in general, including other people. Someone can feel very much in control of their own week while believing that, deep down, all behaviour has causes.
Sources
- Paulhus, D. L., & Carey, J. M. (2011). The FAD-Plus: Measuring lay beliefs regarding free will and related constructs. Journal of Personality Assessment. doi:10.1080/00223891.2010.528483
- Vohs, K. D., & Schooler, J. W. (2008). The value of believing in free will: Encouraging a belief in determinism increases cheating. Psychological Science. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02045.x
- Nadelhoffer, T., Shepard, J., Crone, D. L., Everett, J. A. C., Earp, B. D., & Levy, N. (2020). Does encouraging a belief in determinism increase cheating? Reconsidering the value of believing in free will. Cognition. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104342
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording adapted from the FAD-Plus, so scores are not comparable to its published norms. The scale measures everyday beliefs, not the truth of the matter, which philosophers and scientists still dispute. The original samples were mostly North American students, and fate and chance carry different weight across religions and cultures. A well-known finding that doubting free will makes people cheat was not reproduced in later, larger studies.