The illusion of external agency

Bibliographic Data

ID6206414
AuthorsDaniel T Gilbert (0000-0002-9865-4445, Harvard University, corresponding author), Ryan P Brown (0000-0003-2401-6077), Elizabeth C Pinel (0000-0003-0224-0000), Timothy D Wilson (0000-0003-3106-1212)
Year2000
Volume79
Issue5
Pages690-700
Publication date2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1037//0022-3514.79.5.690
PMID11079235
OpenAlexW2072666046
LanguageEN
Citations received45
References cited3

People typically underestimate their capacity to generate satisfaction with future outcomes. When people experience such self-generated satisfaction, they may mistakenly conclude that it was caused by an influential, insightful, and benevolent external agent. In three laboratory experiments, participants who were allowed to generate satisfaction with their outcomes were especially likely to conclude that an external agent had subliminally influenced their choice of partners (Study 1), had insight into their musical preferences (Study 2), and had benevolent intentions when giving them a stuffed animal (Study 3). These results suggest that belief in omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent external agents, such as God, may derive in part from people's failure to recognize that they have generated their own satisfaction.

Agency (philosophy · Cognitive psychology · Epistemology · Illusion · Critical Realism in Sociology · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology