Abstract
The more people believe in free will, the harsher their punishment of criminal offenders. A reason for this finding is that belief in free will leads individuals to perceive others as responsible for their behavior. While research supporting this notion has mainly focused on criminal offenders, the perspective of the victims has been neglected so far. We filled this gap and hypothesized that individuals’ belief in free will is positively correlated with victim blaming—the tendency to make victims responsible for their bad luck. In three studies, we found that the more individuals believe in free will, the more they blame victims. Study 3 revealed that belief in free will is correlated with victim blaming even when controlling for just world beliefs, religious worldviews, and political ideology. The results contribute to a more differentiated view of the role of free will beliefs and attributed intentions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 103074 |
| Journal | Consciousness and Cognition |
| Volume | 88 |
| ISSN | 1053-8100 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01.02.2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Elsevier Inc.
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Research areas and keywords
- Belief in a just world
- Free will belief
- Intention attribution
- Political ideology
- Religiosity
- Responsibility
- Victim blaming
- Business psychology
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
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