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The consequences of disbelief in free will: diminished morality or enhanced conformity?

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Date Issued:
2013
Summary:
Diminished belief in free will has been shown to influence morally relevant behavior (e.g., cheating, helping) and conformity. What happens when opportunities for immoral action and conformity are both available? To investigate the relative salience of these action tendencies, we manipulated participants’ belief in free will, provided them an opportunity to cheat on a perceptual-reasoning task to obtain a reward, and exposed them to a confederate who did or did not cheat on this task. Participants primed with deterministic (vs. free will) beliefs demonstrated diminished belief in free will, and an increased tendency to cheat regardless of whether the confederate modeled cheating or not cheating. Cheating tendencies were enhanced, however, when the confederate cheated on the task. Discussion centers on the psychological effects of belief versus disbelief in free will and on the methodological challenges associated with research on free will.
Title: The consequences of disbelief in free will: diminished morality or enhanced conformity?.
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Name(s): Trager, Bradley M., author
Vallacher, Robin R., Thesis advisor
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Degree grantor
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: Spring 2013
Date Issued: 2013
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: Online Resource
Extent: 47 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Diminished belief in free will has been shown to influence morally relevant behavior (e.g., cheating, helping) and conformity. What happens when opportunities for immoral action and conformity are both available? To investigate the relative salience of these action tendencies, we manipulated participants’ belief in free will, provided them an opportunity to cheat on a perceptual-reasoning task to obtain a reward, and exposed them to a confederate who did or did not cheat on this task. Participants primed with deterministic (vs. free will) beliefs demonstrated diminished belief in free will, and an increased tendency to cheat regardless of whether the confederate modeled cheating or not cheating. Cheating tendencies were enhanced, however, when the confederate cheated on the task. Discussion centers on the psychological effects of belief versus disbelief in free will and on the methodological challenges associated with research on free will.
Identifier: FA00004259 (IID)
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library
Sublocation: Boca Raton, Fla.
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004259
Restrictions on Access: All rights reserved by the source institution
Restrictions on Access: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU