The Implications of Degrees of Belief in Free Will

Abstract

Belief in free will (whatever free will may exactly be) seems to influence our attitudes and behaviors, from cognition all the way up to meta-cognition. Several researchers recognized the importance of this area a little more than a decade ago and set up camps within the boundaries of philosophy and psychology to examine belief in free will in the general public. But as could be expected, this area, like every other up-and-coming field of study, has its fair share of problems. This thesis is, first, a critique of the prominent instruments being employed in the field, and second, presents a novel approach that bypasses the many problems that exist within the current literature. Subsequently, after employing our proposed free will item along with several other measures, we were able to demonstrate that different degrees of belief in free will only sometimes influence laypeople's attitudes and behaviors.