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Work and freedom? Working self‐objectification and belief in personal free will
Author(s) -
Baldissarri Cristina,
Andrighetto Luca,
Gabbiadini Alessandro,
Volpato Chiara
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/bjso.12172
Subject(s) - objectification , psychology , social psychology , attribution , perception , affect (linguistics) , task (project management) , empirical research , epistemology , communication , philosophy , management , neuroscience , economics
The current work aimed to extend the burgeoning literature on working objectification by investigating the effects of particular job activities on self‐perception. By integrating relevant theoretical reflections with recent empirical evidence, we expected that performing objectifying (i.e., repetitive, fragmented, and other‐directed) tasks would affect participants' self‐objectification and, in turn, their belief in personal free will. In three studies, we consistently found that performing a manual (Study 1 and Study 2) or a computer (Study 3) objectifying task (vs. a non‐objectifying task and vs. the baseline condition) led participants to objectify themselves in terms of both decreased self‐attribution of human mental states (Study 1 and Study 3) and increased self‐perception of being instrument‐like (Study 2 and Study 3). Crucially, this increased self‐objectification mediated the relationship between performing an objectifying activity and the participants' decreased belief in personal free will. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered.