Determinism, Moral Responsibility, Blame, and Praise
Shirley Ogletree, Professor
Colleagues include: Crystal Oberle, Rick Archer, Jennifer
Covington, Julia Bahruth, Janine Harlow
Texas State University—San Marcos
Presentation for UT—Developmental Area
General Outline
I.
Determinism vs. Free Will
A.
B.
C.
II.
Philosophical positions
Psychological positions
College students’ beliefs
Determinism and Moral Responsibility
A.
B.
Is moral responsibility incompatible with moral
responsibility?
Skinner’s position
III.
Interpersonal Judgments of Blame and Praise
IV.
Are determinists more tolerant?
II.
Background factors & praise/blame
Other Implications
I.
Determinism Vs. Free Will
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Philosophical positions
 Hard determinism (Ayer, 1954)
 Soft determinism (Stace, 1952)
 Libertarian (Kane, 2009)
Psychological positions
 Determinism explained: “Groundhog Day”
 Determinists—Freud, Skinner; Wegner (2004)
 Support free will—Rogers, Maslow; Hodgson,
(2005)
College Students’ (Texas State)Beliefs

On a five-point scale (1—definitely do NOT have free will, 5—
definitely HAVE free will), 83% chose a “4” or “5”
Students most strongly agreed with the statement (69% chose
a “4” or “5”), “People’s genes, their past experience, and their
current circumstances influence their behavior, but ultimately
they freely choose among their options and therefore have free
will.”
Assessing the amount of free will (1—COMPLETE free will to
10—NO free will), 64% of participants choose a number < 5
(labeled SOME free will).
Your thoughts—why is belief in free will so pervasive?
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Source: Two studies in Ogletree & Oberle (2008)
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Determinism Vs. Free Will
Determinism and Moral Responsibility
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Incompatibilists: One cannot be morally responsible
if one is not ultimately responsible for his/her actions.
Skinner’s (1972) perspective:
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Consequences justified by:
 Individual outcomes
 Outcomes for society
Others (Clark 2006; Stace, 1952) agree
Determinism and Tolerance

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Walking a mile in “your” shoes
Smilansky (2005)
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Determinism – “the great eraser”
Research—little consistency relating more tolerant and free
will/determinism attitudes

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Ogletree & Archer (2011); Ogletree, Covington, & Archer (submitted)—
several small correlations with libertarian attitudes and “blameworthiness” or
“praiseworthiness”
Why?

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College psychology students?
Emotional reactivity—Nichols (2007); Nichols & Knobe (2007)
“Nonrational processes”—Rogerson, Gottlieb, Handelsman, Knapp,
Younggren, 2011 (American Psychologist)
Experimental Manipulation of Choice

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Manipulation of “choice”
 Activated by directions:
 “Whenever you see the student making a
choice, press the Spacebar.”
 “Whenever you see the student touching an
object with his hand for the first time, press the
Spacebar .”
Increased blame for victim and reduced empathy
Savani, Stephens, and Markus (2011) in Psychological Science
Blame and Hardship Scenarios
Ogletree & Archer (2011) in Ethics & Behavior
 Study 1: 8 scenarios, 4 describing problem with
alcohol abuse, 4 describing homelessness
Within each problem, scenario varied depending upon
amount of childhood hardship.
 Hardship significantly (negatively) predicted homelessness
blame
Study 2: 12 scenarios varying target gender, problem (alcohol
abuse, homeless) and background information.
 Both alcohol abuse, homelessness: more difficult
childhood—less blame
 Rated similarity to target significant for alcohol abuse

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Praise and Hardship Scenarios
Ogletree, Covington, & Archer (submitted to Social Research
Justice)

Study 1:

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8 scenarios, varying in accomplishment (accepted at
Julliard, finalist on American Idol), childhood background
information
Results: Rated effort, hardship predicted
“praiseworthiness”
Study 2:


12 scenarios, varying in accomplishment (soccer, tennis,
math, poetry), childhood background information
Results: Rated effort, hardship again predicted
“praiseworthiness”
Conclusion

Even though deterministic attitudes do not clearly
predict tolerance, college students give less blame
and ascribe more credit when childhood hardships are
highlighted.
Can we become more tolerant by learning more about
each other?
Other Implications

Perceptions of Choice?
 My perspective
Choice more important
 Determinism—positive philosophy

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Relations with primates?

Texas State college students:
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Humans different from both chimpanzees and rats
Chimpanzees differed from rats in perceived moral
responsibility and free will.
Ogletree, Oberle, Harlow, & Bahruth, (2010) in Journal of Social,
Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology
References
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Ayer, A. J. (1954). Philosophical essays. MacMillian: London.
Clark, T. W. (2006, May). Explaining Moussaoui. June 7, 2006, from
http://www.naturalism.org/moussaoui.htm
Hodgson, D. (2005). A plain person’s free will. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12, 3-19.
Kane, R. (2009). Libertarianism. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosphy in
the Analytic Tradition. 144, 35-44. Doi : 10.1007/s11098-009-9365-y
Nichols, S. (2007). After incompatibilism: A naturalistic defense of the reactive attitudes.
Philosophical Perspectives, 21(1), 405-428.
Nichols, S., & Knobe, J. (2007). Moral responsibility and determinism: The cognitive science of
folk intuitions. Noûs, 42 (4), 663-685.
Ogletree, S. M., & Archer, R. A. 2011. Interpersonal judgments: Moral responsibility and blame.
Ethics and Behavior, 21, 1-14.
Ogletree, S. M. & Oberle, C. D. 2008. The nature, common usage, and implications of free will
and determinism. Behavior and Philosophy, 36, 5-19
Ogletree, S. M., Oberle, C. D., Harlow, J., & Bahruth, J. (2010). Perceptions of choice: Free will,
moral responsibility, and mind-body dualism in humans, chimpanzees, and rats. Journal of Social,
Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 4 (3), 142-155.
Rogerson, M. D., Gottlieb, M. C., Handelsmann, M. M., Knapp, S., Younggren, J. (2011).
Nonrational processes in ethical decision making, American Psychologist, 66, 614- 623.
Savani, K., Stephens, N. M., & Markus, H. R. (2011) The unanticipated interpersonal and societal
consequences of choice: Victim blaming and reduced support for the public good. Psychological
Science, 22, 795-802.
Skinner, B. F. (1972). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Smilansky, S. (2005). Free will and respect for persons. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 29, 248261.
Stace, W. T. (1952). Religion and the modern mind. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Wegner, D. M. (2004). Précis of The illusion of conscious will. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27,
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