Mental Self-Determination

Definition

Mental Self-Determination examines the ability to shape one's own mental processes, goals and cognitive environment within the broader domain of the rights and safeguards protecting freedom of thought, cognitive self-determination and freedom from unwanted interference.

Why this matters

Failures concerning the ability to shape one's own mental processes, goals and cognitive environment can cause physical or psychological harm, loss of function, privacy invasion, identity compromise, exclusion, coercion or irreversible impact on human agency.

Research questions

Under which conditions can the ability to shape one's own mental processes, goals and cognitive environment be delivered, measured or protected reliably, and how do outcomes vary by person, device, duration, context and governance controls?

Hypotheses

A transparent, safety-bounded and person-centred approach to mental self-determination, combining validated measurement, informed consent, privacy and security controls, human oversight and longitudinal monitoring, will improve benefit–risk outcomes compared with opaque or technology-centred approaches.

Proposed methods

rights analysis; scenario-based user studies; informed-consent testing; coercion and manipulation assessment; legal comparison; participatory research; ethics review; expert and affected-user review; reproducibility testing; methods adapted specifically to Mental Self-Determination

Stakeholders and beneficiaries

individuals; patients; workers; students; clinicians; employers; governments; human-rights bodies; technology providers; legal practitioners