Free to See the Big Picture: Autonomy Increases Abstractness of Action Identification

Abstract

People sometimes feel autonomous—free to choose and able to control their actions; at other times, they feel restricted in what they can do and what the outcome will be. Based on Action Identification Theory, the present work examines whether autonomy influences how abstractly actions are represented. In 6 studies, high (vs. low) autonomy increased abstractness of action identification. Participants selected more abstract (vs. concrete) redescriptions of actions when they imagined wanting (vs. having) to perform these actions (Experiments 1a–1b), when autonomy was varied via situation descriptions (Experiments 2a–2b), via memory content (Experiment 3), and in an ecological setting (Study 4). Finding that high (vs. low) autonomy increased abstractness of action identification constitutes an extension of Action Identification Theory to incorporate social determinants.