The 2008 Shift Report: Changing the Story of Our Future, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, recently arrived at the offices of WIE. Among its many other compelling facts, we were struck by this description of an experiment conducted by Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota and Jonathan Schooler of the University of British Columbia that investigated the ways in which believing, or disbelieving, in free will affects moral choices:
| | [W]hat one believes about free will has an important social consequence.... In the Vohs and Schooler study, [some] participants read passages from The Astonishing Hypothesis by Nobel laureate biologist Francis Crick, which promotes the idea that free will is an illusion: “Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons.” Others read more neutral statements as a control condition. The results of the study showed that participants who read [Crick's] anti-free will statements were significantly more likely to cheat on several experimental tasks. If exposure to [anti-free will messages] increases the likelihood of unethical actions, then what does this same message, repeated by authoritative scientists and promoted by the media, do to societal behavior? |
Interesting. If we are told a bunch of neurons have burned in pathways in our brain that determines our behavior we are likely to be unethical.
I wonder what would happen if they would have said:
You are bunch of neurons, in fact you have as many neurons as there are stars in the universe, with potential to be as creative, beautiful and destructive as the universe itself.
5 comments:
I find it very hard to believe that we have no free will. However, if we have none then the choices we make are made using some method of chaos theory. Put the same choice in front of the same bunch of neurons repeatedly and they will decide differently each time. In character with the individuals other actions most of the time, but random just the same.
If this were true, then I have no responsibility for any of the decisions I make. The only criteria we have to make judgments on is, "What works best for me?". The only crime would be getting caught. Nietche
As a teacher and as a tech at the psych hospital I see people living in this mindset often. I think you can see it in many adults as well. An unexamined life is generally a mess.
Homebrewer
Yeah, I believe in freewill, so it seems silly to me, but this is what some scientists and philosophers believe.
I think the experiment is interesting though, in that our actions are directly affected by what we believe we are.
So is the thought that if people are told they "are what they are and they can't do anything about it" they allow their "true self" to just go wild? Am I understanding that correctly?
FYI.. Our computer crashed so I don't know when Roger will be able to comment on this Steve! Sorry! But I don't think it's what Roger meant at all..
Sounds right to me Steve. Most people won't cheat because they feel it is wrong. When presented with the idea that they aren't responsible for their actions because they really have no choice in what they do, more people cheat. (choose to cheat?)
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