To see whether participants who believe that behaviour is under the control of pre-determined forces would cheat more that a participant who believed more in free will.
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Procedure 1
30 university students took part and were first asked to read one of two passages from a book written by Frances Crick.
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Group 1 (experimental group)
In the anti-free will condition, participants read statements claiming that most scientist today recognise that actual free will is an illusion.
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Group 2 (control group)
Read a different chapter from the same book, not discussing free will
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Procedure 2
All participants completed a separate Free Will and Deterministic scale to asses changes in their beliefs and mood.
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Procedure 3
Participants were then given a computer-based mental arithmetic task in which they were asked to mentally calculate equations. Participants were told, that the computer had a programming glitch and that the correct answer would appear on screen
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Procedure 4
They were then told that there was a method of stopping the answer from appearing, however, which was to press the space bar after the maths problem appeared on screen.
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Procedure 5
Furthermore, participants were told that the experimenter could not know if they hit the space bar, but they should honestly solve it by themselves.
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Procedure 6
The computer had been rigged not only to show the answer but also to record the number of space bar pressed.
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Procedure 7
A total of 20 problems were presented individually and the number of times participants stopped the answer from appearing was dependent measure of cheating. After they were debriefed and thanked
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Results 1
Scores on the Free-Will and Determinism scale showed that participants in the anti-free will condition reported weaker free will beliefs than in the control
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Results 2
Whether participants would allow the answers to the arithmetic questions to be relevant was the dependent measure of cheating. As predicted, participant cheated less in control group
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Conclusion
participants cheated more on a simple arithmetic task after reading an essay that refuted the notion of free will as causing human behaviour than after reading a neural essay.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
30 university students took part and were first asked to read one of two passages from a book written by Frances Crick.
Back
Procedure 1
Card 3
Front
In the anti-free will condition, participants read statements claiming that most scientist today recognise that actual free will is an illusion.
Back
Card 4
Front
Read a different chapter from the same book, not discussing free will
Back
Card 5
Front
All participants completed a separate Free Will and Deterministic scale to asses changes in their beliefs and mood.
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