Although a popular notion, free-will is an illusion. Discuss.

Introduction

Free will is an intriguing topic in psychology as it allows the researchers to explore several facets of the human behaviours. The most common definition of free will is a person’s ability to choose how he behaves in a given situation. This behaviour can be negative or positive but the idea is that the behaviour is spontaneous and decided solely by the person’s own wish and desire. However, other factors e.g. judgement, appraisal, persuasion, advice or external pressure can also mould a person’s behaviour and somehow distort the idea of free will