The Freedom to Pursue Happiness: Belief in Free Will Predicts Life Satisfaction and Positive Affect among Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

A small amount of research has examined the association between the belief in free will and subjective well-being (SWB) among Western laypersons from individualist cultures. However, no study has examined this association among participants from collectivist cultures (e.g., Eastern Asian cultures). Therefore, in this study, we explored this association among two large, independent cohorts of Chinese adolescents (N1 = 1,660; N2 = 639; high school students). The belief in free will was measured by a self-reported questionnaire (Cohorts 1 and 2) and a two-alternative forced choice question regarding the existence of free will (Cohort 2). SWB included cognitive well-being (life satisfaction) and affective well-being (positive and negative affect) in both cohorts. Data analyses indicated that a stronger belief in free will was consistently associated with higher life satisfaction and positive affect in both cohorts. Our investigation provides evidence supporting the cultural generality of the positive effects of believing in free will on SWB.

Resilience and positive affect contribute to lower cancer‐related fatigue among Chinese patients with gastric cancer

“…The PANAS has been widely used among clinical and nonclinical samples, and its internal reliability in previous studies has been reported as excellent (Merz et al., ; Morrison & Heimberg, ). The PANAS has a higher reliability and validation for Chinese version (Li, Wang, Zhao, Kong, & Li, ; Li, Yang, Liu, & Wang, ). Cronbach's α for the PA in this study was .81.…”

Does belief in free will make us feel good and satisfied?

“…On the basis of the previous research findings presented in the theoretical background above, i.e. that belief in free will is associated with higher well-being (life satisfaction and higher positive affect) (Crescioni et al, 2016;Li et al, 2017), we hypothesized as follows: H1: Belief in free will increases the level of both cognitive and affective well-being, and decreases ill-being (poor health condition).…”

The developmental and cultural psychology of free will

“…At a minimum, it seems that free will beliefs and their variants (e.g., feelings of agency, perceptions of choice) are related to well‐being, happiness, and intrinsic motivation (Crescioni, Baumeister, Ainsworth, Ent, & Lambert, ; Leotti, Iyengar, & Ochsner, ; Ryan & Deci, ), and recent evidence suggests that these associations are not specific to western cultural contexts (Li, Wang, Zhao, Kong, & Li, ). Moreover, correlations exist between free will beliefs and “success” measures that have been associated with self‐discipline and self‐control, such as better job performance (Stillman et al, ), and better academic performance (Feldman, Chandrashekar, & Wong, ).…”