title: Free to help? An experiment on free will belief and altruism.
abstract: How does belief in free will affect altruistic behavior? In an online experiment we undermine subjects' belief in free will through a priming task. Subjects subsequently conduct a series of binary dictator games in which they can distribute money between themselves and a charity that supports low-income people in developing countries. In each decision task, subjects choose between two different distributions, one of which is more generous towards the charity. In contrast to previous experiments that report a negative effect of undermining free will on honest behavior and self-reported willingness to help, we find an insignificant average treatment effect. However, we do find that our treatment reduces charitable giving among non-religious subjects, but not among religious subjects. This could be explained by our finding that religious subjects associate more strongly with social norms that prescribe helping the poor, and might therefore be less sensitive to the effect of reduced belief in free will. Taken together, these findings indicate that the effects of free will belief on prosocial behavior are more nuanced than previously suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Job
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4455-1598
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kellie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liket
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Protzko
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University College, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schölmerich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000533:Altruism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012067:Religion; D012919:Social Behavior; D012923:Social Class