To follow or not to follow: Influence of valence and consensus on the sense of agency

Advice from others influence our decisions. Irrespective of whether we follow them or not, we sometimes regret not having listened or blame the other for bad guidance. How does compliance with advice and outcome of the chosen action influence a person's sense of agency? We conducted two online experiments using explicit and implicit measures of the sense of agency. Participants played a digital thimblerig and received hints towards either of the cups. Correct choices came with financial benefits whereas incorrect choices came with losses. Benefits increased explicit agency ratings compared to losses, so did dissent choices compared to advice compliance. Conversely, temporal binding as implicit measure for sense of agency was not affected by advice compliance while being larger for losses compared to benefits. We propose that consensus and outcome valence directly affect reflective aspects of the sense of agency, whereas the influence on prospective aspects depends on situational characteristics.

Automated summary

Advice from others can influence our decisions, and compliance or non-compliance may lead to regrets or blaming others. Two online experiments were conducted to examine the influence of advice compliance and outcome on a person's sense of agency. The explicit measure showed that compliance with advice and gaining benefits increased the sense of agency, as well as dissenting choices. However, the implicit measure of temporal binding was not affected by advice compliance and was larger for losses compared to benefits.