The Belief in Free Will as a Biological Adaptation: Thinking Inside and Outside the Behavior Analytic Box

Abstract

In general, people tenaciously believe they possess free will despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that all human behavior is determined by environmental stimuli. Skinner in particular has consistently, forcefully, and persuasively argued that the belief in free will is an artifact of human behavior – in his view, a now-dysfunctional product of the “literature of freedom and dignity.” Drawing on both scientific and nonscientific sources, I examine this paradox between subjective experience and objective analysis and suggest that the almost-universal “belief in free will” is a product of evolution and thereby an adaptive human characteristic. From this perspective, I discuss the wisdom of adhering to the dominant behavior analytic understanding of free will; contrary to Skinner’s contention, the pervasive human belief in free will, even if scientifically “wrong,” may well contribute to social progress rather than impede it.