Consumer behavior offers a useful window on human nature, through which many
distinctively human patterns of cognition and behavior can be observed. Consumer behavior
should therefore be of central interest to a broad range of psychologists. These patterns
include much of what is commonly understood as free will. Our approach to understanding
free will sidesteps metaphysical and theological debates. Belief in free will is pervasive in
human social life and contributes to its benefits. Evolution endowed humans with a new form …