Professional Judges’ Disbelief in Free Will Does Not Decrease Punishment

Oliver Genschow; Heinz Hawickhorst; Davide Rigoni; Ellen Aschermann; Marcel Brass

doi:10.1177/1948550620915055

Professional Judges’ Disbelief in Free Will Does Not Decrease Punishment

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

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Professional Judges’ Disbelief in Free Will Does Not Decrease Punishment. / Genschow, Oliver; Hawickhorst, Heinz; Rigoni, Davide et al.
In: Social Psychological and Personality Science, Vol. 12, No. 3, 01.04.2021, p. 357-362.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Bibtex

@article{849ba3ba36164406a6395ebc76d56b74,

title = "Professional Judges{\textquoteright} Disbelief in Free Will Does Not Decrease Punishment",

abstract = "There is a debate in psychology and philosophy on the societal consequences of casting doubts about individuals{\textquoteright} belief in free will. Research suggests that experimentally reducing free will beliefs might affect how individuals evaluate others{\textquoteright} behavior. Past research has demonstrated that reduced free will beliefs decrease laypersons{\textquoteright} tendency toward retributive punishment. This finding has been used as an argument for the idea that promoting anti-free will viewpoints in the public media might have severe consequences for the legal system because it may move judges toward softer retributive punishments. However, actual implications for the legal system can only be drawn by investigating professional judges. In the present research, we investigated whether judges (N = 87) are affected by reading anti-free will messages. The results demonstrate that although reading anti-free will texts reduces judges{\textquoteright} belief in free will, their recommended sentences are not influenced by their (manipulated) belief in free will.",

keywords = "Business psychology, belief in free will, judges, offenders, punishment, social perception, belief in free will, judges, offenders, punishment, social perception",

author = "Oliver Genschow and Heinz Hawickhorst and Davide Rigoni and Ellen Aschermann and Marcel Brass",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2020.",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/1948550620915055",

language = "English",

volume = "12",

pages = "357--362",

journal = "Social Psychological and Personality Science",

issn = "1948-5506",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",

number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Professional Judges’ Disbelief in Free Will Does Not Decrease Punishment

AU - Genschow, Oliver

AU - Hawickhorst, Heinz

AU - Rigoni, Davide

AU - Aschermann, Ellen

AU - Brass, Marcel

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.

PY - 2021/4/1

Y1 - 2021/4/1

N2 - There is a debate in psychology and philosophy on the societal consequences of casting doubts about individuals’ belief in free will. Research suggests that experimentally reducing free will beliefs might affect how individuals evaluate others’ behavior. Past research has demonstrated that reduced free will beliefs decrease laypersons’ tendency toward retributive punishment. This finding has been used as an argument for the idea that promoting anti-free will viewpoints in the public media might have severe consequences for the legal system because it may move judges toward softer retributive punishments. However, actual implications for the legal system can only be drawn by investigating professional judges. In the present research, we investigated whether judges (N = 87) are affected by reading anti-free will messages. The results demonstrate that although reading anti-free will texts reduces judges’ belief in free will, their recommended sentences are not influenced by their (manipulated) belief in free will.

AB - There is a debate in psychology and philosophy on the societal consequences of casting doubts about individuals’ belief in free will. Research suggests that experimentally reducing free will beliefs might affect how individuals evaluate others’ behavior. Past research has demonstrated that reduced free will beliefs decrease laypersons’ tendency toward retributive punishment. This finding has been used as an argument for the idea that promoting anti-free will viewpoints in the public media might have severe consequences for the legal system because it may move judges toward softer retributive punishments. However, actual implications for the legal system can only be drawn by investigating professional judges. In the present research, we investigated whether judges (N = 87) are affected by reading anti-free will messages. The results demonstrate that although reading anti-free will texts reduces judges’ belief in free will, their recommended sentences are not influenced by their (manipulated) belief in free will.

KW - Business psychology

KW - belief in free will

KW - judges

KW - offenders

KW - punishment

KW - social perception

KW - belief in free will

KW - judges

KW - offenders

KW - punishment

KW - social perception

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086251988&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5905cd16-fa8d-3b21-a198-2dda0dcc6e94/

U2 - 10.1177/1948550620915055

DO - 10.1177/1948550620915055

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85086251988

VL - 12

SP - 357

EP - 362

JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science

JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science

SN - 1948-5506

IS - 3

ER -

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620915055
Final published version

Professional Judges’ Disbelief in Free Will Does Not Decrease Punishment

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