Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
The sense of agency (SoA) is defined as “the registration that I am the initiator of my actions.” Both “direct” and “indirect” measurement of SoA has focused on specific contextualized perceptual events, however it has also been demonstrated that “higher level” cognitions seemingly affect the SoA. We designed a measure of person's general, context-free beliefs about having core agency—the Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS). An exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses on samples of 236 (Study 1) and 408 (Study 2) participants yielded two correlated factors we labeled Sense of Positive Agency (SoPA) and Sense of Negative Agency (SoNA). The construct validity of SoAS is demonstrated by its low-to-moderate correlations with conceptually relevant tools and by the moderate-strong relationship between the SoNA subscale and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms (r = 0.35). We conclude that the SoAS seems to isolate people's general beliefs in their agency from their perceived success in obtaining outcomes.
Highlights
After being the focus of much psychological research (e.g., Abramson et al, 1978; Newman et al, 1983), the construct of agency and its nomological relatives have, since the mid 1980’s, largely disappeared from central stage
The relationships of conceptually relevant constructs to the two Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS) factors, one capturing cognitions of positive agency and the other cognitions of negative agency. While these two subscales coherently relate to conceptual neighbors such as Locus of Control and beliefs in free will, they are sufficiently dissimilar to warrant their unique measurement
Negative agency seems not to be a “scientific” or “cold” form of determinism, but rather a fatalistic, pessimistic, and potentially de-motivating kind. This is intriguing, considering that the SoAS does not measure whether an individual feels that he/she perpetually fails to meet her goals—which would be associated with anhedonia or hopelessness—rather, the SoAS focuses on control of rudimentary, basic faculties, such as locomotion or the stream of thought
Summary
After being the focus of much psychological research (e.g., Abramson et al, 1978; Newman et al, 1983), the construct of agency and its nomological relatives (such as “freedom,” “control,” “authorship,” “free will,” and “helplessness”) have, since the mid 1980’s, largely disappeared from central stage. The last few years have seen a resurge of interest in the topic, driven mostly (but not solely) by the neurosciences, which largely focused on the precursors of the sense of agency (e.g., Aarts et al, 2012; David, 2012). Direct measures usually include rating scales and self-report questionnaires that explicitly ask about various facets of a person’s sense of agency over a specific event. In contrast, are not direct questions about the extent to which a person feels as the agent of the action or effect in question (Dewey and Knoblich, 2014) but are assumed to be contingent on a prior (unintentional, non-deliberate, seemingly unconscious) computation of one’s agency in regard to a specific environmental change. There are two phenomena: sensory attenuation and intentional binding (which we elaborate on below), both of which have been empirically shown to be associated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
