MIND MATTERS
Wray Herbert
Destined to Cheat?
New research finds those who believe in fate over free will are more likely to act immorally.
"Seinfeld" fans will remember the classic scene in which Jerry, during his stand-up act, is heckled by a relapsed alcoholic. Jerry decides to give the drunk some of his own medicine:
Jerry: "Hey, it's not my fault you're back on the wagon."
Drunk: "It's off the wagon."
Jerry: "In the old days, how do you think they got the alcohol from town to town?"
Drunk: "I don't know."
Jerry: "On the wagon. Don't you think they broke into a couple of those bottles along the way?"
Drunk: "You can't drink on a wagon. It would be too bumpy."
Jerry: "They had smooth trails. What about the Cumberland Gap?"
The drunk may be slurring his words here, but he actually has a better understanding of idiom than Jerry. He has indeed fallen off the wagon of sobriety, though by the end of the episode he will happily be back on that metaphorical wagon.
It's a safe bet that both these phrases are getting a lot of use this month, as millions of Americans resolve to put the holiday hangovers behind them. Some will try to moderate their drinking, others may take a vacation from booze, while still others may finally decide it's time to call it quits. But most alcoholics will fall, with a collective thud, off the wagon.
Why is that? Well, there is actually a fairly acrimonious debate taking place about the origins and nature of alcoholism, part of a larger debate about genetic determinism and free will. Some see alcoholism as a disease, perhaps even a genetic legacy; alcoholics are not unlike diabetics according to this view, cursed with a disease that is wickedly difficult to manage. Others disparage such genetic fatalism, arguing that it makes victims out of people and erodes personal responsibility and morality. In this view a lopsided belief in the power of genes is itself part of the problem: it takes away free will and gives addicts an excuse to behave dishonestly and unethically. Why fight destiny? Bottoms up.
Surprisingly, the link between fatalistic beliefs and unethical behavior has never been examined scientifically—until now. In two recent experiments, psychologists Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota and Jonathan Schooler of the University of British Columbia decided to explore this knotty philosophical issue in the lab, and they figured out an innovative way to do it. They set out to see if they could make otherwise honest people cheat and lie, simply by manipulating their beliefs in free will.
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Member Comments
Posted By: PassionateRN @ 05/05/2008 6:53:16 PM
Comment: This same consistent loss of control over ones destiny has been the basic force that drives the "so called hostility" that has existed in the Black race for many years. Maybe Dr Wright was really just trying to get the powers that be to understand this same issue long before your news flash of today...................."different is not difficient."
Posted By: kcarizona @ 02/10/2008 4:28:36 AM
Comment: We tried to prohibit alcohol and it was a brilliant disaster with Al Capone style thugs running wild. People wanted alcohol and dammit don't tell an American they can't, you have to admire that. Along the very same lines Pot has been illegal since i was brought into this world and now that i am older i have to ask why???
Alcohol and Pot both have danger about them but that is solved by regulation but it makes no sense to see the social injustice to keep it illegal. As far as danger i would say alcohol is faaaaar more dangerous than pot. If we standardized, taxed and made it available i would not want it but the people who did could operate within legality and freedom and rules and not some wild prohibitionary failed enforcement program. Ask around leaders. America doesn't get the logic and will continue to defy your laws because that is what we do we are Free to reason and act within our own logical observations. But back to the tax thing DAMM how much money goes to mafia and evil Al Capone gangsters instead of the state treasury that we could use that $ to build, grow and advance instead of digging into failed positions.
But IF you really want to go to WAR ON DRUGS (and i wonder if you do-i know i do) than go general. general i would suggest you legalize pot and attack the rest especially METH. hey general with all do respect how many more children and families are going to die at the venoumous bite of the METH monster that is terrorizing our people and is loose on the streets. WHO IS THE GENERAL IN CHARGE OF FIGHTING DRUGS. With all do respect you need to resign and as a good soilder fall on your sword as you have lost the war on drugs. We need a new general who will GO TO THE SOURCE and blow the hell out of the real terrorists - terrorizing our streets, creating psychopathic killers who have been up 5 days and are zombie killers - that is no exageration. God bless America as we fight our own battles on our own land in our own neighborhoods. Get the s### out of our streets. National Guard? What are we waiting for?? Economic stimulus how about getting the junk out of the junkies so they can work and not burden the social system with all of their drug related disabilities.
Posted By: William.Demuth @ 02/07/2008 8:46:10 AM
Comment:
This has been self evident to Atheists and free thinkers for centuries.
Belief in an inevitable outcome is the historic foundation of monotheistic religion and other political extremisms that have been used by charlatans and social parasites to warp the minds of their followers into being able to commit billions of atrocities since the dawn of man.
When absolute belief systems indoctrinate the weak or uneducated mind, the result is zealotry.
Be they pedophile priests, morally bankrupt televangelists, the supervisors of Auschwitz, the pilots of 9-11, the Poll Potts death squads, or the Israeli West Bank settlers, extremists who fundamentally believe forces other than free will drive our destiny are dragging our world into an epoch of moral relativism that will ultimately kill us all. Their beliefs that their leaders are divine and thus morally righteous have sown the seeds of our destruction. Whether the bloody results be witch trials or suicide bombings, the results of fools being led to believe that divine forces drive our actions has gone on for far to long.
Predeterminism is an abomination against the intellect of man. Nothing and no one independently determines our destinies either collectively or individually. Our destinies as individuals, and the collective destiny of our human society will be determined by the individual choices and actions of ourselves and our fellow human beings.
We can no longer tolerate those amongst us who foolishly hide behind the dogmatic illusion of "happily ever after" while committing heinous acts against their fellow man.