Free love? On the relation between belief in free will, determinism, and passionate love

Jordane Boudesseul, Anthony Lantian, Florian Cova, Laurent Bègue

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Contribution to Journal)peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

© 2016 Elsevier Inc. Is love possible if we are not free? Some philosophers consider that true love is necessarily free, while others think that the nature of love makes it incompatible with a certain type of freedom. Here, we explored the relationship between feelings of passionate love, belief in free will and determinism across three online studies. In Study 1 (N = 257), participants who believed strongly in free will (or determinism) expressed stronger passionate love. In Study 2 (N = 305), we again found a positive association between belief in free will (or determinism) and passionate love, although the passionate love-determinism relationship seems more conditional. Finally, Study 3 (N = 309) confirmed the relationship between belief in free will and passionate love but not between belief in determinism and passionate love. These findings, along with a meta-analysis, suggest that both beliefs in free will and determinism are compatible with passionate love.
Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)47-59
Number of pages13
JournalConsciousness and Cognition
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2016
Externally publishedYes

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