Belief in Free Will Is Related to Internal Attribution in Self-Perception

Past research indicates that individuals’ belief in free will is related to attributing <i>others’</i> behavior to internal causes. An open question is whether belief in free will is related to the attribution of <i>one’s own</i> action. To answer this question, we tested two opposing predictions against each other by assessing the relation of belief in free will with the self-serving bias—individuals’ tendency to attribute personal success more strongly to internal forces and failure to external forces. The <i>resource hypothesis</i> predicts that a higher endorsement in free will belief relates to a lower self-serving bias. The <i>intention attribution hypothesis</i> predicts that belief in free will relates to higher internal attributions, as compared with external attributions, irrespective of success and failure. Meta-analytic evidence across five high-powered studies (total <i>N</i> = 1,137) supports the intention attribution hypothesis, but not the resource hypothesis (materials and data are available on the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/2a89c/).