Free to blame? Belief in free will is related to victim blaming
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Consciousness and Cognition, Jahrgang 88, 103074, 01.02.2021.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Free to blame? Belief in free will is related to victim blaming
AU - Genschow, Oliver
AU - Vehlow, Benjamin
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2021/2/1
Y1 - 2021/2/1
N2 - The more people believe in free will, the harsher their punishment of criminal offenders. A reason for this finding is that belief in free will leads individuals to perceive others as responsible for their behavior. While research supporting this notion has mainly focused on criminal offenders, the perspective of the victims has been neglected so far. We filled this gap and hypothesized that individuals’ belief in free will is positively correlated with victim blaming—the tendency to make victims responsible for their bad luck. In three studies, we found that the more individuals believe in free will, the more they blame victims. Study 3 revealed that belief in free will is correlated with victim blaming even when controlling for just world beliefs, religious worldviews, and political ideology. The results contribute to a more differentiated view of the role of free will beliefs and attributed intentions.
AB - The more people believe in free will, the harsher their punishment of criminal offenders. A reason for this finding is that belief in free will leads individuals to perceive others as responsible for their behavior. While research supporting this notion has mainly focused on criminal offenders, the perspective of the victims has been neglected so far. We filled this gap and hypothesized that individuals’ belief in free will is positively correlated with victim blaming—the tendency to make victims responsible for their bad luck. In three studies, we found that the more individuals believe in free will, the more they blame victims. Study 3 revealed that belief in free will is correlated with victim blaming even when controlling for just world beliefs, religious worldviews, and political ideology. The results contribute to a more differentiated view of the role of free will beliefs and attributed intentions.
KW - Belief in a just world
KW - Free will belief
KW - Intention attribution
KW - Political ideology
KW - Religiosity
KW - Responsibility
KW - Victim blaming
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099241886&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103074
DO - 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103074
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 33445078
AN - SCOPUS:85099241886
VL - 88
JO - Consciousness and Cognition
JF - Consciousness and Cognition
SN - 1053-8100
M1 - 103074
ER -