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

ABSTRACT: 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

SUBMITTER: Genschow O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5617252 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature