Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T15:52:43.458Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The (mis)management of agency: Conscious belief and nonconscious self-control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2010

Brandon Randolph-Seng
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University, Rawls College of Business, Area of Management, Lubbock, TX 79409-2101. b.randolph-seng@ttu.eduwww.webpages.ttu.edu/brandolp

Abstract

McKay & Dennett (M&D) identify positive illusions as fulfilling the criteria for an adaptive misbelief, but could there be other types of beliefs that may qualify as adaptive misbeliefs? My commentary addresses this and other questions through identifying belief in free will as a potential candidate as an adaptive misbelief.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balcetis, E. & Dunning, D. (2006) See what you want to see: Motivational influences on visual perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91:612–25.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (2008) Free will is un-natural. In: Are we free? The psychology of free will, ed. Baer, J., Kaufman, J. & Baumeister, R., pp. 128–54. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. & Earp, B. (2009) The will is caused, not “free.” Dialogue: Newsletter of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology 24:13, 15.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. (2008) Free will in scientific psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science 3:1419.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., Masicampo, E. J. & DeWall, C. N. (2009) Prosocial benefits of feeling free: Disbelief in free will increases aggression and reduces helpfulness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35:260–68.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1957) On perceptual readiness. Psychological Review 64:123–52.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., Sheridan, J. F. & McClintock, M. K. (2000) Multilevel integrative analyses of human behavior: Social neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological approaches. Psychological Bulletin 126:829–43.Google Scholar
Gailliot, M. T., Baumeister, R. F., DeWall, C. N., Maner, J. K., Plant, E. A., Tice, D. M., Brewer, L. E. & Schmeichel, B. J. (2007) Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92:325–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pichon, I., Boccato, G. & Saroglou, V. (2007) Nonconscious influences of religion on prosociality: A priming study. European Journal of Social Psychology 37:1032–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randolph-Seng, B. (2009) Nonconscious vigilance: Preconscious control over the influence of subliminal priming. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University.Google Scholar
Randolph-Seng, B. & Nielsen, M. E. (2007) Honesty: One effect of primed religious representations. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 17(4):303–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shariff, A. F. & Norenzayan, A. (2007) God is watching you: Priming God concepts increases prosocial behavior in an anonymous economic game. Psychological Science 18(9):803809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D. & Brewer, L. E. (in press) Personal philosophy and personal achievement: Belief in free will predicts better job performance. Social Psychological and Personality Science.Google Scholar
Vohs, K. D. & Schooler, J. (2008) The value of believing in free will: Encouraging a belief in determinism increases cheating. Psychological Science 19(1):4954.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M. (2005) Who is the controller of controlled processes? In: The new unconscious, ed. Hassin, R., Uleman, J. & Bargh, J. A., pp. 1958. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar