When errors do not matter: Weakening belief in intentional control impairs cognitive reaction to errors

Abstract

The belief that one can exert intentional control over behavior is deeply rooted in virtually all human beings. It has been shown that weakening such belief - e.g. by exposure to 'anti-free will' messages - can lead people to display antisocial tendencies. We propose that this cursory and irresponsible behavior may be facilitated by a breakdown of neurocognitive mechanisms underlying behavioral adjustments. In the study reported here, we tested the hypothesis that weakening belief in intentional control reduces cognitive markers of behavioral control. Participants performed a Simon task before and after reading a scientific text either denying free will (no-free will group) or not mentioning free will (control group). Results showed that the post-error slowing, a cognitive marker of performance adjustment, was reduced in the no-free will group. This reduction was proportional to a decrease of the belief in intentional control. These observations indicate that weakening the belief in free will can impact behavioral adjustment after an error, and could be the cause of antisocial and irresponsible behavior.

Posterror speeding after threat-detection failure.

“…Participants showed post-error slowing when they failed to detect a nonthreatening face. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of post-error adjustments in a visual-search task, where response latencies are much longer than what is typically found in studies using choice reaction time tasks (Laming, 1979;Rabbitt, 1966), Simon tasks (Rigoni, Wilquin, Brass, & Burle, 2013), or Stroop tasks (Suárez-Pellicioni, Núñez-Peña, & Colomé, 2013). This result supports the hypothesis that sequential control adjustments impact performance for a prolonged time period (Cheyne, Carriere, Solman, & Smilek, 2011).…”

The freedom to excel: Belief in free will predicts better academic performance

“…Previous literature has shown that the belief in free will is related to neural error detection Rigoni et al, 2013) and the ability to learn from one's own mistakes , and our findings demonstrate that these effects translate to better performance in related academic tasks.…”

“…Hence, trait self-control focuses on regulating the self and opposing urges and desires, whereas the belief in free will is about one's generalized belief in the freedom of action and the perceived capacity to choose one's own actions or to do otherwise (Baumeister, 2008). Studies have indeed shown that the belief in free will is associated with better self-control (Rigoni, Kühn, Gaudino, Sartori, & Brass, 2012;Rigoni et al, 2013). Linking the two constructs, we can conceptualize belief in free will as the perceived capacity of whether 12 or not and in what manner to exert self-control in different situations (Rigoni et al, 2012;Wertenbroch, Vosgerau, & Bruyneel, 2008), such that the belief in free will facilitates pointing the self in a desired direction, whereas trait self-control facilitates the long pursuit of this direction.…”

“…People who believe in free will learn better from their own mistakes and misdeeds , have higher perceived ability and positive attitudes toward decision making (Feldman, Baumeister, & Wong, 2014), enjoy greater self-efficacy and suffer less from helplessness (Baumeister & Brewer, 2012), show more honest behavior (Vohs & Schooler, 2008), demonstrate higher levels of autonomy and report higher willingness to exert effort (Alquist, Ainsworth, & Baumeister, 2013), show stronger motivations for career success and exhibit better job performance , and are more futureoriented (Seligman, Railton, Baumeister, & Sripada, 2013). The belief in free will has even been shown to affect the fundamental processes of agentic volition , such as increased voluntary motor preparation (Rigoni, Kühn, Sartori, & Brass, 2011), better suppression of automatic pain reactions (Lynn, Van Dessel, & Brass, 2013), and more efficient neural reactions to errors (Rigoni, Pourtois, & Brass, 2014;Rigoni, Wilquin, Brass, & Burle, 2013).…”

The Influence of (Dis)belief in Free Will on Immoral Behavior

“…According to Baumeister (2008), believing in free will increases one’s motivation and willingness to make efforts, therefore resulting in higher self-control. This argument has been supported by recent electroencephalography studies showing that inducing disbelief in free will changes the neural processes underlying voluntary action (Rigoni et al, 2011) and post error adaptation (Rigoni et al, 2013, 2015). Behavioral studies have likewise shown that the feeling of agency, that is, the pre-reflective feeling of being in control of one’s own actions (Synofzik et al, 2008) was reduced when participants were primed with disbelief in free will (Aarts and van den Bos, 2011; Lynn et al, 2014).…”