topic 7 - Vohs & Schooler (2008) - the value of believing in free will Flashcards
what was the procedure of the Vohs and Schooler (2008) study?
> The experimental group read about Crick’s claim that we have no free will
> The control group read about consciousness
> All participants were then asked to complete math problems and were put in a position which would allow them to cheat
> The measure of participants beliefs about free will and determinism was recorded before and after the study using the Free Will and Determinism Scale
what was the aim of the Vohs and Schooler (2008) study?
To see if the belief of determinism would encourage cheating.
what was the conclusion of the Vohs and Schooler (2008) study?
When the belief of determinism is put forward and free-will beliefs are challenged, behaviour becomes less moral (measured through participants cheating).
Results were similar to Fred Schab (1991) who found that self-reports of cheating have increased over time with 34% of students in 1969 saying they used a cheat-sheet and 68% saying this in 1989. Schab also found that more people said that control over their actions came from external factors which supports the idea that cheating is linked to the belief of determinism.
describe the sample of the study
13 female students and 17 male students (all attend uni)
what was the equipment needed for Vohs and Schoolers study?
A book with different passages. The participants had to read certain passages which discussed consciousness and determinism
what was the experimental design of Vohs and Schoolers?
Independent measure design because each group experienced different conditions.
what was the IV and how was it operationalised in Vohs and Schoolers?
IV: type of passage read. The control group was given a passage about consciousness while the other group was given a passage about how free will doesn’t exist and all actions are deterministic
what was the DV and how was it operationalised in Vohs and Schoolers?
DV: the number of spacebar presses, this avoided the answer being revealed so it avoided cheating.
what type of experiment was Vohs and Schoolers?
lab experiment
what are strengths of lab experiments?
- the most scientific research methods because of the high levels of control
- cause and effect can be established between the IV and DV which improves internal validity
what are weaknesses of lab experiments?
- conducted in an unnatural environment
- participants are invited, display of demand characteristics
- considered reductionist because it isolates on the variables under consideration ignoring other variables that could also be involved.
what were strengths of Vohs and Schooler’s study?
- One strength is due to ethical reasons. Participants in the ‘cheating condition’ could shred their results to protect their anonymity and when one of the participants were identifiable, their results were removed and there was a debrief.
- Another strength is the practical application to society. The idea that behaviour comes from both genes and environment and the findings suggests that believing in free will can lead us to behave morally even if from a scientific point of view, our behaviour is determined.
what were weaknesses of Vohs and Schooler’s study?
- One weakness is the issue of measuring cheating. The participants had to actively not cheat and it was thought that not pressing the space bar meant not cheating. When another experiment was conducted, it was recognised as a weakness.
- Another weakness is it was mildly unethical to measure moral behaviour. There is a possibility that when pushing someone to believing that they do not have free will would not affect their ‘real’ immoral behaviour.
- Last weakness is the experiment lacks ecological validity as it was conducted in an artificial environment and the task was also artificial.
