The Illusion of Conscious Will: What It Is and How It Affects Us

How Much Do We Really Control Our Own Behavior?

To what extent is our conscious behavior actually determined by our own will? Are we truly the masters of our actions, or is there something within us that makes decisions on our behalf? Many people might find these questions odd, since it seems obvious that when we want to do something, we simply decide to do it. For example, we think about eating a hamburger, and then we eat it. But what if that decision is just a notification, not the real choice?

In this article, we’ll explore the concept of the illusion of conscious will—a theory rooted in neuroscience but also widely discussed in modern philosophy and psychology.

What Is the Illusion of Conscious Will?

Throughout the history of philosophy, people have debated the idea of free will—a topic later taken up by psychology and neurobiology. Some believe all our behavior is the result of a chain of actions and causes that make us act the way we do. Others argue the opposite: that as rational and free beings, we can change our behavior as we wish.

It’s possible that both extreme determinists and advocates of absolute free will are mistaken. We can influence our behavior, which explains why we sometimes make mistakes even when we know better. But we’re also not isolated from our environment or our genes, and these factors influence how we act.

It seems we don’t really have the ability to consciously decide our actions, though that doesn’t mean everything is determined by forces outside our minds. In fact, it appears that our own mind makes decisions for us—using its own criteria—without us being aware of it. We feel like our decisions are conscious, but that’s just an illusion.

The illusion of conscious will is a concept introduced by Dr. Daniel Wegner (1948–2013) in his book The Illusion of Conscious Will (2002). He connects it to the theory of apparent mental causation. Essentially, this theory says that when we perform an action, we get the sense that we consciously decided to do it beforehand, but in reality, the decision was made much earlier and less consciously.

Illusion and Apparent Mental Causation

Anyone with a healthy brain and no neurological or mental disorders is aware of their actions and believes they consciously chose to do (or not do) them. In other words, we attribute our behavior to our own will and believe we have free will, making rational (or irrational) choices about what to do.

We humans think we have full control over our actions. But being aware of what we’re doing is not the same as consciously deciding to do it. Knowing what we’re doing doesn’t mean we made the decision ourselves, or at least not in a rational way. The decision may have been made by us, but unconsciously—hidden deep in our minds.

According to Wegner and the theory of apparent mental causation, the illusion of conscious will arises because people attribute their thoughts as the cause of their subsequent actions, even though there may not be a real causal link. For example, if I think about smoking a cigarette and then smoke one, it seems logical that the decision to smoke was made when I thought about it. But the decision may have been made unconsciously much earlier. At some point, the idea moved from my unconscious to my conscious mind, and I interpreted it as a decision made in that moment, when in fact it was just a notification of what I was about to do—smoke.

In reality, both the conscious thought of wanting to smoke (B) and the act of smoking (C) are the result of an unconscious decision to want to smoke (A). It’s not that B causes C, but that A causes both B and C. Since A is mysterious and B comes before C and they’re thematically linked (smoking), we assume there’s a causal connection, but it’s actually imagined.

In short, according to the idea of the illusion of conscious will, our decisions are made through unconscious processes we can’t fully understand. The thought that we’re thinking about an action before we do it isn’t the decision itself—it’s more like a heads-up about what’s about to happen. For example, because I unconsciously decided to smoke, my mind tells me I’m about to do it, and that’s why I start thinking I want a cigarette.

You might also be interested in: “Cognitive Biases: Discovering an Interesting Psychological Effect”

The Subconscious, Hypnotists, and Neurobiology

Although he didn’t directly discuss the illusion of conscious will, Sigmund Freud’s work on hypnosis is closely related to Wegner’s research. Hypnosis led Freud to intuitively realize that unconscious processes drive human behavior—actions we believe we consciously control.

This “will,” as we’ve discussed, is nothing more than an illusion, and post-hypnotic rationalization is a clear example. Rationalization is a defense mechanism where a person gives convincing but false reasons for their actions. In hypnosis, post-hypnotic rationalization is the explanation a person gives after performing an action during a trance—an action the hypnotist instructed them to do after giving a signal.

For example, in a typical hypnosis session, the hypnotist tells a volunteer in a deep trance that when he counts to three (the signal), the person will scratch their chin (the action). The hypnotist counts to three, and the subject scratches their chin as instructed. When asked why, the subject says it was because their chin itched. The explanation makes sense, but it’s false. The person didn’t decide to scratch voluntarily—the hypnotist made the decision and triggered the behavior with a signal.

While most of our behavior is determined by our mind, albeit unconsciously, the example of the hypnotist and post-hypnotic rationalization illustrates the relationship between our unconscious, our conscious thoughts, and our actions. The hypnotist can be seen as a metaphor for our unconscious processes, and the explanation about the itchy chin serves as an example of these “notifications” that something is about to happen.

In conclusion, we can’t really talk about making decisions until we think we’ve made them, let alone those who have found neurophysiological evidence for this. Benjamin Libet (1916–2007) discovered that the nerve impulse to perform an action occurs about 300 milliseconds before we consciously register the decision. In other words, our brain decides what to do before we even know what we’re going to do.

Summary

It seems our behavior is determined by us, but not consciously. Whatever we do, it appears our subconscious makes the decision. The fact that we think about something right before we do it is just a notification—a warning that we’re about to act. It’s not that we think about smoking and then smoke, or want a hamburger and then eat it; our mind decided in advance.

Our belief that we are completely free and rational beings, in control of our actions, along with our need to find causal links between our thoughts and behavior, leads us to fall for the illusion of conscious will. This makes sense, since when an idea comes first and then an action follows, it’s almost impossible for us not to see a causal connection. What we’re going to do is already decided—we just rationalize it afterward.