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Belief in free will affects causal attributions when judging others' behavior

Date:
September 9, 2017
Source:
Ghent University
Summary:
Believing in free will increases the correspondence bias and predicts prescribed punishment and reward behavior, six studies demonstrate.
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Six studies demonstrate that believing in free will increases the correspondence bias and predicts prescribed punishment and reward behavior.

Free will is a cornerstone of our society, and psychological research demonstrates that questioning its existence impacts social behavior. In six studies, we tested whether believing in free will is related to the correspondence bias, which reflects people's automatic tendency to overestimate the influence of internal as compared to external factors when interpreting others' behavior.

All studies demonstrate a positive relationship between the strength of the belief in free will and the correspondence bias. Moreover, in two experimental studies, we showed that weakening participants' belief in free will leads to a reduction of the correspondence bias. Finally, the last study demonstrates that believing in free will predicts prescribed punishment and reward behavior, and that this relation is mediated by the correspondence bias.

Overall, these studies show that believing in free will impacts fundamental social-cognitive processes that are involved in the understanding of others' behavior.


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Materials provided by Ghent University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Oliver Genschow, Davide Rigoni, Marcel Brass. Belief in free will affects causal attributions when judging others’ behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; 201701916 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1701916114

Cite This Page:

Ghent University. "Belief in free will affects causal attributions when judging others' behavior." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 September 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170909184028.htm>.
Ghent University. (2017, September 9). Belief in free will affects causal attributions when judging others' behavior. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 3, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170909184028.htm
Ghent University. "Belief in free will affects causal attributions when judging others' behavior." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170909184028.htm (accessed October 3, 2024).

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