Not surprisingly, most of us like to control our environment and our fate. If you’re cold, you want to be able to turn up the heat. If you don’t like what’s on TV, you want to be able to change the channel or at least watch something else on your phone. You don’t want to be told you just have to sit there and endure a situation you dislike (as any teenager will tell you).
The benefit of having choice and control isn’t just that you like your environment a little more. Choice is immediately rewarding in the brain. People like choice and control so much that when they’re anticipating a choice, even before they’ve made it, reward centers of the brain light up.
Choice and control have long-term benefits for your body as well. When people have more control over their lives, they live longer.10 They have healthier hearts, fewer doctor’s visits, and less drug addiction. People who have a lot of choice are mentally and physically healthier than those who don’t.
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