Commentary: Stumbling upon Indirect Self-Enhancement in Free Will Beliefs

The paper describes a story, the pattern of which may be familiar to many scientists. A clear and well thought-out hypothesis which is grounded in the empirical literature – in this case that the better-than-average effect which has been robustly demonstrated across several domains would replicate in the domain of free will – falls at the first empirical hurdle. Rather than give up, the researchers take this unplanned anomaly in the scientific process and use it as a springboard to understand better not only the better-than-average effect but also our ways of understanding free will. The final outcome is far richer than the initial project.