Abstract
Most people believe in free will, but what happens when this belief is challenged? Psychologists have shown that reducing belief in free will causes a variety of behavioral consequences (Vohs & Schooler, 2008; Baumeister, Masicampo, & DeWall, 2009). Specifically, reducing belief in free will leads to increases in forgiveness (Karremans & Vohs, 2010). We sought to replicate this work and to test the hypothesis that perceptions of moral responsibility mediate the relationship between belief in free will and willingness to forgive, because having free will is a necessary condition of moral responsibility, and so reductions in belief in free will should reduce perceptions of moral responsibility. In Study 1, self-reported trait belief in free will was positively correlated with self-reported perceptions of moral responsibility. In Study 2, using an experimental design, we found that reducing belief in free will causes decreases in perceptions of moral responsibility. Study 3 tested the main hypothesis, that perceptions of moral responsibility mediate the relationship between belief in free will and willingness to forgive, directly. Using a meditational model, we found that experimentally reducing belief in free will caused decreases in perceptions of moral responsibility, which led to increases in willingness to forgive. Together these studies provide support for the idea that moral responsibility may be the mechanism by which belief in free will affects behaviors.
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