Retrospective and prospective agency in single- and multiagent scenarios

• Applicant: Dr. Katharina Schwarz
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 406027551

The sense of agency (SoA), i.e., the feeling of control over one’s own actions and, through these actions also over one’s environment, is a crucial mental state for human beings and their functioning in society. Yet, we often face situations in which it is unclear which environmental changes are consequences of our own actions. This uncertainty regarding own agency and responsibility potentially affects future action choices, especially in ambiguous or critical situations. Previous research has assessed such situations with a retrospective view on experienced control. The proposed project develops a novel, prospective view on agency by asking how subjective agency affects future action decisions. In a direct continuation of the preceding funding phase, the project extends previous methodology and research questions to new areas: it extends research on SoA in multi-agent scenarios with hierarchical settings by focusing primarily on societally relevant, i.e., morally ambiguous or questionable behaviour, first probing for the impact of hierarchies on SoA in those situations, and then in turn studying how different levels of SoA affect the prevalence of such behaviour. In a second step, the proposed project pinpoints the impact of SoA on future action decisions by targeting the question if and which individual factors might mediate such an effect. Finally, it studies SoA as a reward and an action goal in itself, potentially directing agents into choosing actions that increase their SoA. This perspective significantly extends the scope of SoA research and its application, and the proposed project promises significant advances and contributions to this conceptualization of SoA.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Nura Sidarus