Beliefs about the Nature of Freedom

Abstract

The present study attempted to determine whether some people would accept as part of their conceptions of freedom four of the characteristics said by recent theorists to be conditions of freedom. Items describing 60 choice situations, varying according to these conditions, were rated as “free” or “not free” by 19 college student volunteers. Also, 24 of these situations were ranked according to the criterion “more free.” The four theoretically most free situations were so rated by 18 out of 19 participants, but there was no agreement as to the relative importance of the four conditions. And even though none of the theorists has asserted all four conditions, the results indicate that the research participants must have utilized all four in making their rankings.