The hand of God or the hand of Maradona? Believing in free will increases perceived intentionality of others’ behavior

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

The question of whether free will actually exists has been debated in philosophy for centuries. However, how belief in free will shapes the perception of our social environment still remains open. Here we investigate whether belief in free will affects how much intentionality we attribute to other people. Study 1a and 1b demonstrate a weak positive relation between the strength of belief in free will and the perceived intentionality of soccer players committing handball. This pattern even holds for behavior that is objectively not intentional (i.e., when the player touches the ball accidentally). Going one step further, in Study 2 we find a weak correlation between belief in free will and perceiving intentions in very abstract geometrical shapes. These findings suggest that whether individuals believe in free will or not changes the way they interpret others’ behavior, which may have important societal consequences.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftConsciousness and Cognition
Jahrgang70
Seiten (von - bis)80-87
Anzahl der Seiten8
ISSN1053-8100
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.04.2019
Extern publiziertJa

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