Aaron Walton

Aaron Walton is a practising psychologist and PhD candidate in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Among his research topics are the neuroscience of consciousness; meditation and mindfulness; nondual self-transcendence, and most notably, the psychology of free will belief/disbelief. His research demonstrates that challenging the existence of free will can increase forgiveness of self and others, and reduce hatred and shame, and that higher free will belief predicts more retributive punitiveness across 44 countries. He also hosts The Middle Way podcast exploring diverse views on important ideas with guests including Robert Sapolsky, and offers mindfulness and wellbeing consulting to organisations. He is currently writing a general-audience book arguing that letting go of free will belief may be one of the most important steps for humanity to take.