Manipulating Belief in Free Will and Its Downstream Consequences: A Meta-Analysis
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Personality and Social Psychology Review, Jahrgang 27, Nr. 1, 02.2023, S. 52-82.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Manipulating Belief in Free Will and Its Downstream Consequences
T2 - A Meta-Analysis
AU - Genschow, Oliver
AU - Cracco, Emiel
AU - Schneider, Jana
AU - Protzko, John
AU - Wisniewski, David
AU - Brass, Marcel
AU - Schooler, Jonathan W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - Ever since some scientists and popular media put forward the idea that free will is an illusion, the question has risen what would happen if people stopped believing in free will. Psychological research has investigated this question by testing the consequences of experimentally weakening people’s free will beliefs. The results of these investigations have been mixed, with successful experiments and unsuccessful replications. This raises two fundamental questions: Can free will beliefs be manipulated, and do such manipulations have downstream consequences? In a meta-analysis including 145 experiments (95 unpublished), we show that exposing individuals to anti–free will manipulations decreases belief in free will and increases belief in determinism. However, we could not find evidence for downstream consequences. Our findings have important theoretical implications for research on free will beliefs and contribute to the discussion of whether reducing people’s belief in free will has societal consequences.
AB - Ever since some scientists and popular media put forward the idea that free will is an illusion, the question has risen what would happen if people stopped believing in free will. Psychological research has investigated this question by testing the consequences of experimentally weakening people’s free will beliefs. The results of these investigations have been mixed, with successful experiments and unsuccessful replications. This raises two fundamental questions: Can free will beliefs be manipulated, and do such manipulations have downstream consequences? In a meta-analysis including 145 experiments (95 unpublished), we show that exposing individuals to anti–free will manipulations decreases belief in free will and increases belief in determinism. However, we could not find evidence for downstream consequences. Our findings have important theoretical implications for research on free will beliefs and contribute to the discussion of whether reducing people’s belief in free will has societal consequences.
KW - belief
KW - cheating
KW - determinism
KW - free will
KW - meta-analysis
KW - morality
KW - punishment
KW - social behavior
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131726561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/f41b093b-d49e-3539-8fca-12ba4dec1917/
U2 - 10.1177/10888683221087527
DO - 10.1177/10888683221087527
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 35676864
AN - SCOPUS:85131726561
VL - 27
SP - 52
EP - 82
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Review
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Review
SN - 1088-8683
IS - 1
ER -