
If you woke up this morning to squeeze in a workout before work or get your kids ready in time for school, you were exercising your ability to make purposeful decisions, a.k.a. agency. We often don’t give second thoughts to this quintessential characteristic of all living things. Yet, the question of where agency arises and how our environment factors into that calculus has long puzzled scientists. How — and when — do we learn our power as individuals?