Ordinary people associate addiction with loss of free will

Abstract

IntroductionIt is widely believed that addiction entails a loss of free will, even though this point is controversial among scholars. There is arguably a downside to this belief, in that addicts who believe they lack the free will to quit an addiction might therefore fail to quit an addiction.MethodsA correlational study tested the relationship between belief in free will and addiction. Follow-up studies tested steps of a potential mechanism: 1) people think drugs undermine free will 2) people believe addiction undermines free will more when doing so serves the self 3) disbelief in free will leads people to perceive various temptations as more addictive.ResultsPeople with lower belief in free will were more likely to have a history of addiction to alcohol and other drugs, and also less likely to have successfully quit alcohol. People believe that drugs undermine free will, and they use this belief to self-servingly attribute less free will to their bad actions than to good ones. Low belief in free will also increases perceptions that things are addictive.ConclusionsAddiction is widely seen as loss of free will. The belief can be used in self-serving ways that may undermine people's efforts to quit.

Political differences in free will belief are driven by differences in moralization

“…Implications and Directions for Future Research The findings reported in this paper have theoretical implications for both the psychology of free will belief and political psychology. First, these findings provide further and more direct support for previous work conducted on free will belief as motivated social cognition (Clark, Baumeister, et al, 2017;Clark et al, 2014;Clark, Shniderman, et al, 2018;Clark, Winegard, & Baumeister, 2019;Vonasch et al, 2017). The work reported here demonstrates that belief in free will is linked to a desire to hold people accountable for their moral wrongdoing, and that free will attributions vary as a function of the valence of the action, how moral or immoral it is perceived to be, and even who the target is.…”

Are morally good actions ever free?

“…Another analysis suggests that there may be individual differences such that people who are particularly inclined to see a variety of negative actions and outcomes (e.g., homelessness, drug addiction) as having moral significance are also more inclined to believe that people have freedom and control over those actions and outcomes (Everett et al, 2017). Relatedly, people tend to downplay their own free will when considering the morally negative consequences of their own behavior (Vonasch, Clark, Lau, Vohs, & Baumeister, 2017). Such results seem to suggest that free will is largely about moral responsibility.…”

Addiction, cigarette smoking, and voluntary control of action: Do cigarette smokers lose their free will?

“…Note, however, that latter view (overwhelming cravings) is not only used by opponents but by some who embrace its conclusion. Indeed, experimental studies and surveys by Vonasch, Clark, Lau, Vohs, and Baumeister (2017--this issue) have confirmed that many people in the general public associate addiction with loss of free will, in the form of being unable to resist addictive cravings.…”