Imagine yourself standing in line in the cafeteria, you have two main dishes to choose from: pizza or a plate of ferocious looking meatloaf, so you decide to go with pizza. So was your decision based on free will or was it predetermined? To fully understand whether your actions arise from free will or determinism, we must first define them. Determinism is the idea that everything happens because of a cause or determinant, which is something that can be observed or measured. To put it simply, determinism does not mean that the future can be predicted. Rather, it is a prediction of possible outcomes that could occur. We use facts, knowledge, and prior experience to help predict outcomes (Ott, para. 4). Free will, on the other hand, is caused by a person's independent decisions, which means they cannot be predicted or measured; they are the authentic, pressure-free decisions we make. Therefore, the answer to the question I posed above is determinism. The decision to eat pizza and all other decisions we make throughout life are predetermined by three factors: our ancestral information, cause and effect within us (our genes), and our environment which includes our family and external factors. Personally, I have always thought that we live in a deterministic world and that there has never been a need to challenge it. However, research on the topic suggests that people will only believe what they want. This is why this topic continues to be an intensely controversial topic among psychologists. The ordinary individual, of course, believes that yes, we have free will and we use it every day. From Ott's understanding, however, these people are blind to the invisible forces of the universe that govern us. Therefore, they… middle of paper… feel an obligation to choose the right books, the right friends, and the right teacher. Works Cited Churchland, Patricia. “Do we have free will?” New Scientist (2006): 42-45. Premier of academic research. EBSCO. Network. February 8, 2011.Ludlow, Bob. “Guest Essay – Bob Ludlow on Free Will (Not!).” Ardell Electronic Wellbeing Report 493 (2009): Academic Research Premier. EBSCO. Network. February 8, 2011. McInerney, Joseph. "Behavioral Genetics". Human Genome Project Information (2008): Biological and Environmental Research Information System. BERIS. Network. February 8, 2011.Oct, Edwin. “The Free Will/Determinism Paradox.” Free will/determinism. July 29, 1998. Web. February 8, 2011. Searle, John. Minds, brains and science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.Thomas, Ebbi. “Determinism versus Free Will.” How the mind works. Nd Web. 12 April 2011.