If I am free, you can't own me: Autonomy makes entities less ownable

Cognition
Christina Starmans, Ori Friedman

Abstract

Although people own myriad objects, land, and even ideas, it is currently illegal to own other humans. This reluctance to view people as property raises interesting questions about our conceptions of people and about our conceptions of ownership. We suggest that one factor contributing to this reluctance is that humans are normally considered to be autonomous, and autonomy is incompatible with being owned by someone else. To investigate whether autonomy impacts judgments of ownership, participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk read vignettes where a person paid for an entity (Experiments 1 and 3) or created it (Experiment 2). Participants were less likely to judge that the entity was owned when it was described as autonomous compared with when it was described as non-autonomous, and this pattern held regardless of whether the entity was a human or an alien (Experiments 1 and 3), a robot (Experiments 2 and 3), or a human-like biological creation (Experiment 2). The effect of autonomy was specific to judgments of whether entities were owned, and it did not influence judgments of the moral acceptability of paying for and keeping entities (Experiment 3). These experiments also found that judgments of ownership were separate...Continue Reading

References

Jul 16, 2003·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Philip E. Tetlock
Jul 25, 2006·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·Nick Haslam
Dec 26, 2006·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Susan T FiskePeter Glick
Feb 3, 2007·Science·Heather M GrayDaniel M Wegner
Apr 12, 2007·Psychological Science·Stephen Loughnan, Nick Haslam
Jan 10, 2008·Psychological Science·Kathleen D Vohs, Jonathan W Schooler
May 21, 2008·Psychonomic Bulletin & Review·Ori Friedman
Jan 15, 2009·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Roy F BaumeisterC Nathan Dewall
May 5, 2010·Child Development·Kristin Hansen LagattutaSandra Leanne Bosacki
Jun 29, 2010·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Adam WaytzDaniel M Wegner
Jun 15, 2011·New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development·Philippe Rochat
Jul 22, 2011·Cognition·Federico RossanoMichael Tomasello
Sep 21, 2011·Developmental Psychology·Karen R NearyOri Friedman
Nov 9, 2011·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·Kurt GrayLisa Feldman Barrett
Jan 17, 2013·Cognition·Vivian LiKristina R Olson
Mar 5, 2013·Cognition·Eric Luis Uhlmann, Luke Lei Zhu
Jan 1, 2012·Journal of Cognition and Culture·Nicholaus S NolesSusan A Gelman
Oct 8, 2013·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology·Marco F H SchmidtMichael Tomasello
Jun 12, 2014·Psychological Science·Azim F ShariffKathleen D Vohs
Jun 24, 2014·Cognition·Philippe RochatLiping Guo
Jul 30, 2014·Cognitive Science·Julia W Van de Vondervoort, Ori Friedman
Feb 28, 2015·Cognition·Tamar KushnirHenry M Wellman
Jun 5, 2015·Human Nature : an Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective·Peter DeScioli, Rachel Karpoff
Jun 19, 2015·Nature·Vivien Marx

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Aug 10, 2021·Science and Engineering Ethics·Jamie Harris, Jacy Reese Anthis

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Trending Feeds

COVID-19

Coronaviruses encompass a large family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as more serious diseases, such as the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19; formally known as 2019-nCoV). Coronaviruses can spread from animals to humans; symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties; in more severe cases, infection can lead to death. This feed covers recent research on COVID-19.

Blastomycosis

Blastomycosis fungal infections spread through inhaling Blastomyces dermatitidis spores. Discover the latest research on blastomycosis fungal infections here.

Nuclear Pore Complex in ALS/FTD

Alterations in nucleocytoplasmic transport, controlled by the nuclear pore complex, may be involved in the pathomechanism underlying multiple neurodegenerative diseases including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. Here is the latest research on the nuclear pore complex in ALS and FTD.

Applications of Molecular Barcoding

The concept of molecular barcoding is that each original DNA or RNA molecule is attached to a unique sequence barcode. Sequence reads having different barcodes represent different original molecules, while sequence reads having the same barcode are results of PCR duplication from one original molecule. Discover the latest research on molecular barcoding here.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease characterized by unexplained disabling fatigue; the pathology of which is incompletely understood. Discover the latest research on chronic fatigue syndrome here.

Evolution of Pluripotency

Pluripotency refers to the ability of a cell to develop into three primary germ cell layers of the embryo. This feed focuses on the mechanisms that underlie the evolution of pluripotency. Here is the latest research.

Position Effect Variegation

Position Effect Variagation occurs when a gene is inactivated due to its positioning near heterochromatic regions within a chromosome. Discover the latest research on Position Effect Variagation here.

STING Receptor Agonists

Stimulator of IFN genes (STING) are a group of transmembrane proteins that are involved in the induction of type I interferon that is important in the innate immune response. The stimulation of STING has been an active area of research in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Here is the latest research on STING receptor agonists.

Microbicide

Microbicides are products that can be applied to vaginal or rectal mucosal surfaces with the goal of preventing, or at least significantly reducing, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Here is the latest research on microbicides.