Freely Determined
What the New Psychology of the Self Teaches Us About How to Live
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Freely Determined
Buy for $11.87
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Alex Boyles
About this listen
A renowned psychologist argues that free will is not only real but essential to our well-being
It’s become fashionable to argue that free will is a fiction: that we humans are in the thrall of animal urges and unconscious biases and only think that we are choosing freely. In Freely Determined, research psychologist Kennon Sheldon argues that this perception is not only wrong but also dangerous. Drawing on decades of his own groundbreaking empirical research into motivation and goal setting, Sheldon shows us that embracing the ability to choose our path in life makes us happier, healthier, and more fulfilled. He also shows that this insight can help us choose better goals—ones that are concordant with our values and that, critically, we’re more likely to actually see through.
Providing listeners insight into how they can live a more self-directed, satisfying life, Freely Determined offers an essential guide for how we might recognize our freedom and use it wisely.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Kennon M. Sheldon (P)2022 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
Hidden Potential
- The Science of Achieving Greater Things
- By: Adam Grant
- Narrated by: Adam Grant, Maurice Ashley, R. A. Dickey, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,670
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,483
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,480
We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Nope
- By Anna OConnor-McClure on 10-27-23
By: Adam Grant
-
How to Change
- The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
- By: Katy Milkman, Angela Duckworth - foreword
- Narrated by: Katy Milkman, Angela Duckworth
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 983
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 831
Change comes most readily when you understand what's standing between you and success and tailor your solution to that roadblock. If you want to work out more but find exercise difficult and boring, downloading a goal-setting app probably won't help. But what if, instead, you transformed your workouts so they became a source of pleasure instead of a chore? Turning an uphill battle into a downhill one is the key to success.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally, actionable steps
- By lisa on 05-05-21
By: Katy Milkman, and others
-
Awe
- The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
- By: Dacher Keltner
- Narrated by: Dacher Keltner
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 239
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 204
Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Love the idea more than the product
- By Jackie on 04-23-23
By: Dacher Keltner
-
The Good Life
- Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
- By: Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz PhD
- Narrated by: Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz PhD
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 498
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 418
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 417
What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their “captivating” (The Wall Street Journal) book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, show that the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
very little practical advice
- By Kindle Customer on 01-16-23
By: Robert Waldinger MD, and others
-
Anatomy of a Breakthrough
- How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
- By: Adam Alter
- Narrated by: Adam Alter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 79
Almost everyone feels stuck in some way. Whether you’re muddling through a midlife crisis, wrestling with writer’s block, trapped in a thankless job, or trying to remedy a fraying friendship, the resulting emotion is usually a mix of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anger, and numbness. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Anatomy of a Breakthrough is the “deeply researched and compelling” (Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism) roadmap we all need to escape our inertia and flourish in the face of friction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
really helpful
- By Kindle Customer on 08-27-23
By: Adam Alter
-
Determined
- A Science of Life Without Free Will
- By: Robert M. Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 883
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 789
Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Abridged - no Appendix!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-02-23
-
Hidden Potential
- The Science of Achieving Greater Things
- By: Adam Grant
- Narrated by: Adam Grant, Maurice Ashley, R. A. Dickey, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,670
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,483
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,480
We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Nope
- By Anna OConnor-McClure on 10-27-23
By: Adam Grant
-
How to Change
- The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
- By: Katy Milkman, Angela Duckworth - foreword
- Narrated by: Katy Milkman, Angela Duckworth
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 983
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 831
Change comes most readily when you understand what's standing between you and success and tailor your solution to that roadblock. If you want to work out more but find exercise difficult and boring, downloading a goal-setting app probably won't help. But what if, instead, you transformed your workouts so they became a source of pleasure instead of a chore? Turning an uphill battle into a downhill one is the key to success.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally, actionable steps
- By lisa on 05-05-21
By: Katy Milkman, and others
-
Awe
- The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
- By: Dacher Keltner
- Narrated by: Dacher Keltner
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 239
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 204
Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Love the idea more than the product
- By Jackie on 04-23-23
By: Dacher Keltner
-
The Good Life
- Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
- By: Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz PhD
- Narrated by: Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz PhD
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 498
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 418
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 417
What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their “captivating” (The Wall Street Journal) book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, show that the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
very little practical advice
- By Kindle Customer on 01-16-23
By: Robert Waldinger MD, and others
-
Anatomy of a Breakthrough
- How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
- By: Adam Alter
- Narrated by: Adam Alter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 79
Almost everyone feels stuck in some way. Whether you’re muddling through a midlife crisis, wrestling with writer’s block, trapped in a thankless job, or trying to remedy a fraying friendship, the resulting emotion is usually a mix of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anger, and numbness. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Anatomy of a Breakthrough is the “deeply researched and compelling” (Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism) roadmap we all need to escape our inertia and flourish in the face of friction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
really helpful
- By Kindle Customer on 08-27-23
By: Adam Alter
-
Determined
- A Science of Life Without Free Will
- By: Robert M. Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 883
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 789
Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Abridged - no Appendix!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-02-23
-
Psych
- The Story of the Human Mind
- By: Paul Bloom
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 115
How does the brain—a three-pound wrinkly mass—give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not particularly interesting
- By michelle gourgeot on 07-10-23
By: Paul Bloom
-
The Creative Act
- A Way of Being
- By: Rick Rubin
- Narrated by: Rick Rubin
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,194
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,518
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,502
Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Rick is Art
- By Ira Henke on 01-17-23
By: Rick Rubin
-
Free Agents
- How Evolution Gave Us Free Will
- By: Kevin J. Mitchell
- Narrated by: Kevin J. Mitchell
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency—or free will—is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines responding to physical forces but agents acting with purpose.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Adding Clarity to Agency
- By Brad Caldwell on 10-10-23
-
The Perfection Trap
- Embracing the Power of Good Enough
- By: Thomas Curran
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 32
Today, burnout and depression are at record levels, driven by a combination of intense workplace competition, oppressively ubiquitous social media encouraging comparisons with others, the quest for elite credentials, and helicopter parenting. Society continually broadcasts the need to want more, and to be perfect. Gathering a wide range of contemporary evidence, Curran calls for both introspection and broader, societal change. He shows what we can do as individuals to resist the modern-day pressure to be perfect, and in so doing, win for ourselves a more purposeful and contented life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Answers I Didn’t Know I Needed
- By John on 08-14-23
By: Thomas Curran
-
Strangers to Ourselves
- Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious
- By: Timothy D. Wilson
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 501
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 420
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 408
In an eye-opening tour of the unconscious, as contemporary psychological science has redefined it, Timothy D. Wilson introduces us to a hidden mental world of judgments, feelings, and motives that introspection may never show us. This is not your psychoanalyst's unconscious. The adaptive unconscious that empirical psychology has revealed, and that Wilson describes, is much more than a repository of primative drives and conflict-ridden memories.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting, engaging, entertaining, informative
- By Lynn on 10-27-12
-
Belonging
- The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides
- By: Geoffrey L. Cohen
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Discover the secret to flourishing in an age of division: belonging. In a world filled with discord and loneliness, finding harmony and happiness can be difficult. But what if the key to unlocking our potential lies in this deceptively simple concept? Belonging is the feeling of being a part of a group that values, respects, and cares for us—a feeling that we can all cultivate in even the smallest corners of social life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Belonging
- By Danielle on 03-09-25
-
Dopamine Nation
- Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
- By: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Narrated by: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,602
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,452
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,424
This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting but feels incomplete
- By Chris on 09-02-21
By: Dr. Anna Lembke
-
Outsmart Your Brain
- Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy
- By: Daniel T. Willingham Ph.D
- Narrated by: André Santana
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
In this revolutionary, comprehensive, and accessible guide on how the brain learns, discover how to study more efficiently and effectively, shrug away exam stress, and most of all, enjoy learning.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good content but no chapter breakdown
- By Christine Baduria Misbaer on 01-25-23
-
The All-or-Nothing Marriage
- How the Best Marriages Work
- By: Eli J. Finkel
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 298
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 250
Eli J. Finkel's insightful and ground-breaking investigation of marriage clearly shows that the best marriages today are better than the best marriages of earlier eras. Indeed, they are the best marriages the world has ever known. He presents his findings here for the first time in this lucid, inspiring guide to modern marital bliss.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
just read the fourth section
- By James Caviness on 01-04-18
By: Eli J. Finkel
-
Fool Me Once
- Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry
- By: Kelly Richmond Pope
- Narrated by: Diana Blue
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
In Fool Me Once, renowned expert Kelly Richmond Pope shows fraud in action, uncovering what makes perps tick, victims so gullible, and whistleblowers so morally righteous, while also encouraging us to look at our own behaviors and motivations in the hopes of protecting ourselves and our companies.
By the time you finish this book, you'll have a better understanding of—and perhaps more compassion for—perpetrators; a renewed connection to victims; and an appreciation for those who blow the whistle.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
True crime lover!
- By Kelly Richmond Pope on 03-31-23
-
The Neuroscience of You
- How Every Brain Is Different and How to Understand Yours
- By: Chantel Prat
- Narrated by: Chantel Prat
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 79
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
From University of Washington professor Chantel Prat comes The Neuroscience of You, a rollicking adventure into the human brain that reveals the surprising truth about neuroscience, shifting our focus from what’s average to an understanding of how every brain is different, exactly why our quirks are important, and what this means for each of us.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Most Annoying!
- By Amazon Customer on 02-01-23
By: Chantel Prat
-
The Upside of Your Dark Side
- Why Being Your Whole Self - Not Just Your "Good" Self - Drives Success and Fulfillment
- By: Todd Kashdan, Robert Biswas-Diener
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 791
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 693
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 685
In The Upside of Your Dark Side, two pioneering researchers in the field of psychology show that while mindfulness, kindness, and positivity can take us far, they cannot take us all the way. Sometimes, they can even hold us back. Emotions like anger, anxiety, or doubt might be uncomfortable, but it turns out that they are also incredibly useful.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Boring and learned nothing
- By Taryn on 07-25-16
By: Todd Kashdan, and others
too far down the rabbit hole and stays there
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Dull
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.