Joint Agency in Groups

Informations projet

JAIG

N° de convention de subvention: 101105378

DOI

10.3030/101105378

Projet clôturé le 31 Août 2025

Date de signature de la CE 13 Juillet 2023

Date de début 1 Octobre 2023

Date de fin 30 Septembre 2025

Financé au titre de

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Coût total

Aucune donnée

Contribution de l’UE

€ 173 847,36

Coordonné par

HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAET ZU BERLIN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - JAIG (Joint Agency in Groups)

Période du rapport: 2023-10-01 au 2025-09-30

Résumé du contexte et des objectifs généraux du projet

The sense of agency, the experience of being in control of one’s actions and their consequences, is a core component of human cognition and social life. While research has examined agency in individuals and dyads, much less is known about how it operates in larger groups or in interactions with mere objects. This is a critical gap at a time when collective action, both human–human and human–object, is increasingly central to work, governance, and everyday life.

The JAIG project set out to fill this gap by addressing three objectives:

1. Determine how joint agency changes with group size.

2. Test whether these effects differ for social agents (human-like) versus mere objects.

3. Identify how social role, leading vs. following influences, joint agency.

Across a series of controlled experiments, the project measured both implicit and explicit indicators of agency to capture multiple dimensions of the phenomenon.

The results demonstrate that the sense of agency scales with group size, particularly when interacting with social agents, and that leadership enhances agency while following reduces it.

Travail effectué depuis le début du projet jusqu’à la fin de la période considérée dans le rapport et principaux résultats atteints jusqu’à présent

The project addressed three research objectives:

1. Establish and elaborate the link between group size and joint agency.

2. Test whether these effects differ for social agents versus mere objects.

3. Identify how social role (leader vs. follower) influences joint agency.

Over the reporting period, these objectives were achieved through six experiments across multiple studies.

Experiments 1–4 (Galang et al., 2025, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General) demonstrated that the sense of agency increases with group size, with stronger effects for social agents compared to mere objects.

Experiments 4–6 (Nisanci, Formica, Brass, & Galang, in prep.) showed that leading a group enhances agency, while following reduces it.

All studies used pre-registered designs and included both implicit (e.g. intentional binding) and explicit (self-report) measures of agency. The work generated a substantial body of research outputs:

5 peer-reviewed publications, including in Cognition, Consciousness and Cognition, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

2 manuscripts under review and 6 in preparation.

Side projects related to the grant objectives, examining topics such as rule-breaking, imitation, social exclusion, and group dynamics, further extended the scientific impact.

Progrès au-delà de l’état des connaissances et impact potentiel prévu (y compris l’impact socio-économique et les conséquences sociétales plus larges du projet jusqu’à présent)

This project advances the state of the art by moving beyond dyadic studies of the sense of agency to systematically investigate how it functions in larger groups and in interactions with mere objects. Previous work has been constrained by logistical and methodological limitations, producing only fragmentary insights into collective agency. The present research closes this gap through a series of controlled experiments that isolate the effects of group size, social context, and leadership roles on agency.