Today we welcome back Ken Sheldon to the podcast. Ken is a Curator's Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science at the University of Columbia, Missouri. He has written and edited over 200 academic books, scholarly articles, and book chapters. Among these, some of his most notable work include Optimal Human Being and Self-determination Theory in the Clinic. His latest book is called Freely Determined: What the New Psychology of the Self Teaches Us About How to Live.

In this episode, I talk to Ken Sheldon about free will. Instead of questioning its existence, Ken is concerned with how we might use free will to help us reach our goals. Each person has the capacity to make good and bad choices, and to learn from the past. Although we are unable to know everything about ourselves, we can still make informed decisions. Believing that we have the ability to choose directly affects our well-being and values. We also touch on the topics of neuroscience, self-determination, and responsibility.  

Website: sheldonk.mufaculty.umsystem.edu/home

Topics

03:09 Freely Determined

07:23 System 1 and System 2 

09:02 Cybernetic freewill

12:12 Choices are not predetermined

17:36 Self-determination theory

20:20 The feeling of freedom 

24:57 The evolution of the symbolic self

32:47 The default mode network in goal setting

40:57 The “Rewind the tape” argument

45:05 The problem of too much freedom

46:51 Determinism is detrimental

50:45 Living well together 

53:28 Free will is an adaptation

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