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Free will and consciousness: experimental studies.

Joshua Shepherd¹

¹Department of Philosophy, Florida State University, 151 Dodd Hall, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1500, USA. jls09k@my.fsu.edu

Consciousness and Cognition

|April 7, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Consciousness is key to people's understanding of free will. Studies show conscious actions are seen as free, while unconscious actions are not, influencing views on free will and determinism.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Philosophy of Mind
Experimental Philosophy

Background:

Folk intuitions about free will are central to ongoing debates in philosophy and cognitive science.
Understanding the role of consciousness in these intuitions is crucial for reconciling lay beliefs with scientific models of behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the folk-conceptual connections between consciousness and free will.
To determine whether folk conceptions of free will align with compatibilism or incompatibilism.

Main Methods:

Experimental studies presenting participants with scenarios involving conscious and unconscious causation of behavior.
Analysis of folk judgments regarding free will and determinism based on these scenarios.
Assessment of folk philosophical affiliation (compatibilism vs. incompatibilism).

Main Results:

Conscious causation of behavior is strongly associated with judgments of free will.
Unconscious causation of behavior leads to judgments of non-free action.
When consciousness is controlled for, many participants exhibit compatibilist intuitions, accepting free will even in deterministic situations.
Disagreement with deterministic or cognitive scientific descriptions of behavior correlates with incompatibilist responses.

Conclusions:

Consciousness plays a pivotal role in folk conceptions of free will.
Folk intuitions may lean towards compatibilism when the influence of consciousness is highlighted.
Resistance to deterministic explanations of behavior can lead to incompatibilist judgments, even among those who might otherwise appear compatibilist.