The Group Knobe Effect revisited: epistemic and doxastic side-effect effects in intuitive judgments concerning group agents

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the effect described in the literature as the Group Knobe Effect, which is an asymmetry in ascription of intentionality of negative and positive side-effects of an action performed by a group agent. We successfully replicate two studies originally conducted by Michael and Szigeti (Philos Explor 22:44–61, 2019), who observed this effect and provide empirical evidence of the existence of two related effects—Group Epistemic and Doxastic Knobe Effects—which show analogous asymmetry with respect to knowledge and belief ascriptions. We explain how the existence of the Group Knobe Effect and its epistemic and doxastic counterparts affects the philosophical debate on collective agency and intentionality and supports the intuitiveness of realism about collective agency among laypeople. We also critically assess the reasoning presented by Michael and Szigeti (2019) in favor of the realist-collectivist interpretation of their results (as opposed to the realist-distributivist interpretation). We argue that a thorough analysis of both their data and our new findings shows a rather wide range of differing intuitions among laypeople regarding the status of groups as agents. These results show that while some laypeople may have realist-collectivist intuitions, the contrary realist-distrubutivist intuitions are also widespread and the claim that the majority of laypeople hold collectivist intuitions regarding group agency is unjustified.

Corporeal Corporations: People Construe Companies as Having a Mind and Body When Allocating Blame

“…Like corporations, groups are also perceived as a collective personality, capable of both intent and agency (Michael & Szigeti, 2019). On the one hand, groups possess beliefs and characteristics as a group (ACME Inc., is a wily corporation), but they are also capable of possessing beliefs and characteristics via the members of a group (people who work at ACME Inc. are wily individuals; Tarnowski et al, 2022). By extension, corporations can be described via the characteristics of its workers.…”