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Believing there is no free will corrupts intuitive cooperation.
John Protzko1, Brett Ouimette1, Jonathan Schooler1
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States.
Cognition
|March 1, 2016
Summary
Challenging a person's belief in free will can lead to impulsive selfishness. However, given time to think, individuals can overcome this self-interested inclination and act cooperatively.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Belief in free will influences behavior, with challenges potentially increasing uncooperative actions.
- The underlying mechanisms linking free will beliefs to behavior remain under investigation.
- Understanding this link is crucial for comprehending decision-making and social interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mechanism by which belief in free will affects cooperative behavior.
- To determine if reduced belief in free will leads to justifying negative behavior or operates at an intuitive processing level.
- To explore the role of cognitive processing time in mitigating negative behavioral effects.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an economic contribution game with manipulated time constraints.
- Assessed cooperative and selfish behavior under conditions that challenged or upheld belief in free will.
- Compared behavior under immediate decision-making versus conditions allowing for deliberation.
Main Results:
- Individuals exhibit intuitive cooperation.
- Challenging the belief in free will promotes impulsive selfish behavior.
- Sufficient time for deliberation enables individuals to override induced self-interest and restore cooperative behavior.
Conclusions:
- Belief in free will significantly impacts cooperative behavior, particularly under time pressure.
- Reduced belief in free will can lead to intuitive selfishness, but this effect is not immutable.
- Cognitive control and deliberation can counteract the negative behavioral consequences of diminished belief in free will.
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