ICPS
2019 International Convention of Psychological Science · 2019
Ordinary People Think Free Will Is a Lack of Constraint, Not the Presence of a Soul
- Andrew Vonasch
University of Canterbury - Roy Baumeister
The University of Queensland - Alfred Mele
Florida State University
Abstract
Five experiments (N=1596) found that ordinary people understand free will to mean unconstrained conscious choice—not something metaphysical or unscientific. Both scientific (e.g., unconscious priming) and metaphysical threats (lacking a soul) to free will reduced free will judgments—fully mediated by reductions in people’s perceived abilities to make conscious decisions.
Consciousness
