Belief in Free Will Is Related to Internal Attribution in Self-Perception

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Past research indicates that individuals’ belief in free will is related to attributing others’ behavior to internal causes. An open question is whether belief in free will is related to the attribution of one’s own action. To answer this question, we tested two opposing predictions against each other by assessing the relation of belief in free will with the self-serving bias—individuals’ tendency to attribute personal success more strongly to internal forces and failure to external forces. The resource hypothesis predicts that a higher endorsement in free will belief relates to a lower self-serving bias. The intention attribution hypothesis predicts that belief in free will relates to higher internal attributions, as compared with external attributions, irrespective of success and failure. Meta-analytic evidence across five high-powered studies (total N = 1,137) supports the intention attribution hypothesis, but not the resource hypothesis (materials and data are available on the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/2a89c/).

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftSocial Psychological and Personality Science
Jahrgang13
Ausgabenummer8
Seiten (von - bis)1259-1268
Anzahl der Seiten10
ISSN1948-5506
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.11.2022
Extern publiziertJa

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© The Author(s) 2022.

DOI