Arousal and causal attribution.

Two experiments involving a total of 114 male undergraduates investigated whether arousal increased the impact of salient information on causal attributions and decreased the impact of nonsalient information. In Exp 1, salience was manipulated by instructions that directed Ss' attention to different types of information. Arousal was manipulated by the presence or absence of white noise. As expected, the impact of salient information on causal attributions increased with arousal. In Exp 2, emotional arousal (anger) decreased the perceived impact of a nonsalient person in a social interaction. Both effects were most pronounced for Ss with lower chronic levels of arousal. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The processes of causal attribution.

Presents a summary and synthesis of the author's work on attribution theory concerning the mechanisms involved in the process of causal explanations. The attribution theory is related to studies of social perception, self-perception, and psychological epistemology. Two systematic statements of attribution theory are described, discussed, and illustrated with empirical data: the covariation and the configuration concepts. Some problems for attribution theory are considered, including the interplay between preconceptions and new information, simple vs. complex schemata, attribution of covariation among causes, and illusions in attributions. The role of attribution in decision making and behavior is discussed. (56 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Priming of mediators in causal attribution.

According to H. H. Kelley (1967), the process of making person, stimulus, and circumstance attributions is based on the 3 informational criteria of consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness. Two experiments assessed how the relative accessibility of these 3 process-relevant criteria affected the time required to make the 3 attributions. In Exp I, 93 college students were primed for either all 3 process-relevant criteria or 3 pieces of attributionally irrelevant information. 30 sec after the accessibility manipulation, Ss scaled a person, stimulus, or circumstance attribution. Priming the process-relevant information decreased subsequent attribution decision time relative to the control group. In Exp II, 137 college students were primed for consensus, distinctiveness, or consistency after which they were scaled for 1 of 3 attributions. As expected, attribution decision times were lower when all 3 factors were primed (Exp I) than when only 1 of the 3 factors was primed (Exp II). In addition, stimulus and person attributions were made fastest when consensus and distinctiveness, respectively, were primed. Finally, priming cognitive access to a single factor made that factor dominate the scaled attributions. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of visual, vocal, and lexical cues on judgments of counselor qualities.

75 female and 55 male undergraduates rated Carl Rogers on a number of counseling-relevant dimensions. Experimental treatment groups received information via the visual, lexical, vocal, or vocal-lexical communication channels; a control, or reference, group received information via the nature visual-vocal-lexical channel. Lexical cue seemed particularly important in creating favorable impressions among females, but results were less clear-cut for males. When experimental Ss were later exposed to visual-vocal-lexical cues in combination (as control Ss had been earlier), they tended to rate Rogers as warmer and less distant than they had earlier on the basis of limited information. In some instances, however, ratings made with additional information were less favorable than those made partial information. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of fear of success on intrinsic motivation, causal attribution, and choice behavior.

Examined the extent to which fear of success (FOS) moderates effects of choice and task outcomes on intrinsic motivation, causal attribution, and subsequent choice behavior. 139 undergraduates worked either on puzzles of their choice or puzzles that were assigned to them and were then informed that they had performed either better or worse than the majority of other Ss. Measures of intrinsic motivation (task engagement during a free-choice period) and of attribution for performance were obtained. Ss then indicated how much choice they wanted to have over similar tasks that they were going to perform. Finally, Ss completed the Fear of Success Scale and a resultant achievement motivation measure. Results show that following success, low FOS Ss (in comparison to high FOS Ss) showed higher intrinsic motivation, made more internal attributions, and wanted to have more choice if initially they had been given choice and less choice if initially they had been given no choice. There were no significant differences between low and high FOS Ss following failure. Results could not be accounted for by resultant achievement motivation that was unrelated to FOS. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processes of causal explanation and dispositional attribution.

Causal explanation and dispositional attribution are distinguished. Causal explanation involves giving an explanation for why a particular event occurred, whereas dispositional attribution involves learning about the characteristics of some entity. Moreover, it is proposed that production of causal explanations requires J. S. Mill's (1872/1973) method of difference, whereas production of dispositional attributions requires Mill's method of agreement. Exp 1 shows that both the method of difference and the method of agreement are used to make causal explanations. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 indicate that lay attributors consistently favor use of the method of agreement but not the method of difference to make dispositional attributions of both faciliatory and inhibitory characteristics. The distinction between causal explanation and dispositional attribution is used to organize seemingly contradictory findings and to provide an integrative framework for models of causal judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnocentrism and causal attribution in Southeast Asia.

Tested D. M. Taylor and V. Jaggi's (see record 1975-05049-001) hypothesis of ethnocentric attribution, which states that group members make internal attributions for the positive behavior of other ingroup members and external attributions for their negative behavior, while the reverse holds true for attributions to outgroup members. In Exp I, 34 Malay and 34 Chinese male Malaysan university students were asked to ascribe to internal or external causes the behavior of ingroup and outgroup members performing socially desirable or undesirable acts. The hypothesis was supported only for the Malays, whereas the Chinese favored the outgroup. These results were consistent with a limited analysis of auto- and heterostereotypes. Exp II, with 60 Singaporean male university students, revealed ingroup favoritism for the Malays once again, although the Chinese no longer favored the outgroup. These less extreme results mapped onto the stereotypes and mirrored the more multicultural environment in Singapore. Differences between the studies are discussed in terms of wider sociostructural and cultural influences that indicate that ethnocentric attribution is not a universal tendency. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the dimensions of causal attribution.

360 undergraduates were provided sentences describing a variety of events for which they formulated attributions. Ss rated their attributions on a broad set of scales. Factor analyses yielded the following major factors: Good vs Bad, Simple vs Complex, the Person, Enduring vs Transient, and Motivation. Other Ss used the same scales to rate attributions designed to represent currently used dimensions. These attributions were successfully differentiated, and the dimensions were further clarified by the new factors. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of causal attribution in personal problem solving.

In 2 studies with 180 undergraduates, self-appraised effective problem solving was associated with a unique pattern of causal attributions. In the 1st study, self-appraised effective relative to ineffective problem solvers tended to view the etiology of personal problems as largely within their own control and as due to their own failure to exert effort in the situations. In the 2nd study, self-appraised effective relative to ineffective problem solvers exhibited a more pronounced self-serving bias regarding successful and unsuccessful problem-solving attempts; effort attributions emerged as a distinguishing characteristic between the 2 groups. Self-appraised effective problem solvers viewed lack of effort as a primary component when their attempts to solve personal problems were unsuccessful. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings regarding causal attributions among different populations and to appropriate clinical interventions. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Actor–observer differences in information inference and causal attribution.

Conducted 2 experiments with 144 undergraduates to assess (a) differences in the information available to persons trying to understand the causes of their own behavior (actors) vs those trying to understand the causes of another's behavior (observers) and (b) the effects of information differences on causal explanations. In Exp I, actors reported positive behaviors to be less distinctive and more consistent with past behavior than did observers, whereas the reverse was true for negative behaviors. Consistent with this difference, actors attributed desirable behaviors more to their own internal dispositions than did observers, whereas the opposite occurred for undesirable behaviors. In Exp II, when all Ss were given the consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency information generated by actors in Exp I, both actors and observers attributed positive acts more to internal factors than negative acts. When given the information generated by the observers, neither actors nor observers exhibited this bias. Thus, when given the same information, actors and observers no longer showed differences in causal explanations. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dialectics in attribution research: A reevaluation of the dispositional-situational causal dichotomy.

Investigated the contribution of dispositional and situational factors to the explanation of hypothetical situations. 54 undergraduates rated items describing different types of events (accidents, occurrences, coincidences) on 3 attributional scales (for dispositional, situational, and dispositional-and-situational causality) and then gave a written account of their judgments. Results show that each factor's contribution was a function of the type of event represented in each item. While there was agreement on the degree of contribution of a principal causal factor to the explanation of a hypothetical situation, an analysis of Ss' accounts with respect to dialectical thinking revealed individual differences in their overall attributional patterns. Ss did not perform consistently (either in a dialectical or nondialectical fashion) in their accounts from item-to-item and thus, dialectical thinking was not shown to be a consistent, individual trait. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of sodium pentobarbital on vocal behavior.

This study investigated the effects of sodium pentobarbital on the voice, on a psychomoter task (differential visual reaction time) and on mood, as reported by the Ss on the Clyde Mood Scale. 2 oral dose levels and a placebo were given blind to 12 Ss in a Latin-square design. Care was taken to control the effects of social interaction. The rate of reading a standard, well-practiced paragraph was slowed in response to this drug, as were reaction times. Ss described themselves as less clear thinking, less energetic, and less aggressive after pentobarbital, but not more or less jittery, depressed, or friendly. Frequency spectrum analysis of the voice did not show consistent changes in voice quality in response to this drug. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of symptoms and aging attribution on emotions and coping.

280 Ss reported the responses they would manifest to scenarios that varied the severity, duration, and ambiguity of a common set of symptoms. Severity had more impact on coping strategies than duration or illness label; severe symptoms elicited stronger emotional upset and a higher incidence of self-care behaviors and seeking of medical care. Responses of 334 other adults showed that attribution of symptoms to aging increased with age, was more frequent for mild symptoms, and was associated with reduced emotional response to symptoms and a tendency to delay seeking treatment. In a field study, 168 patients seeking medical care for a variety of symptoms completed interviews tracing symptom processing and emotional and coping reactions. The attribution of symptoms to aging was greater for older than younger Ss and resulted in a significant tendency to delay seeking medical care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variation in behavior perception and ability attribution.

In the 1st of 3 studies, 16 undergraduates segmented a videotape of an actor solving 30 problems in an ascending success pattern under instructions to analyze the 1st half of the sequence into fine or large units. Estimates of future performance were lower when the initial part of the series was analyzed more finely. In a 2nd study, 72 undergraduates viewed either an ascending or descending success pattern; the 1st half of the series was presented at fast motion, normal speed, or slow motion. Slow-motion presentation induced finer units of analysis than normal speed and enhanced primacy effects; fast motion induced larger units of analysis and attenuated primacy effects. A 3rd study with 53 undergraduates compared fine- and large-unit analysis induced by instruction and large-unit analysis induced by fast-motion presentation of the entire ascending and descending series. Results are comparable to those of the 1st 2 studies. It is concluded that primacy effects result from a cessation of processing when a point of subjectively sufficient information is reached and that variations in level of analysis set limits on information gain in observation. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of bases for trait attribution: Children's understanding of traits as causal mechanisms based on desire.

Two studies investigated 4- to 7-year-old children's understanding that traits can be causal mechanisms based on desires, as well as mere summaries of behavioral regularities. In Experiment 1, children made predictions given trait information. Children from 5 years made different emotion predictions about the same situation for actors with different traits, thus appreciating traits as psychological causes. For behavior prediction, children over age 4 generalized across situations. In Experiment 2, accurate emotion prediction by 3- to 7-year-olds was linked to understanding desire as a subjective mental property. The results suggest that children change from viewing traits as behavioral regularities to understanding them as internal mediators, and that advances in understanding desire underlie this change. These changes in understanding traits extend research on theory of mind beyond the basic concepts of desire and belief. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement of attribution of causality in counselor behavior.

Describes a set of process scales (Locus of Control Content Scales, Locus of Control Counselor Style Scale, and Problem Solving Scale) developed for use in the study of group counseling. Three of the process scales were designed to rate counselors' references to locus of control, and a 4th scale recorded frequency of problem-solving statements. The locus of control scales differentiated between conveying attitudes about causality through the content of a counselor's statements vs through the style in which he or she interacted with the group. Results of 6 high school counselors working with 96 students indicate that counselors are not consistent in their use of style and content in expressing ideas about causality. Counselor statements tended to imply that students had the resources to solve their own problems (internal content) but provided the students with solutions rather than allowing them to decide on a course of action (external style). Appropriate reliability coefficients and suggestions for designing research using these process scales are given. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social anxiety, self-presentation, and the self-serving bias in causal attribution.

Two experiments with 160 undergraduates studied the contribution of self-presentation concerns to the self-serving bias in causal attribution (individuals' tendency to assume more personal responsibility for a success than for a failure) and its occasional, but systematic, reversal. In Exp I, high- but not low-social-anxiety Ss (selected by scores on the Social Anxiety subscale of the Self-Consciousness Scale) presented themselves in a far more modest light when a committee of high prestige others was to join the experimenter in evaluating their behavior than when the committee evaluation was canceled. In Exp II, this reversal of the self-serving bias among high-social-anxiety Ss was replicated, and it was also found that both high- and low-social-anxiety Ss portrayed the causes of their behavior in a more modest fashion when they responded via the "bogus pipeline," a measurement technique designed to reduce distortion and dissimulation in verbal responses, than when they responded in the traditional paper-and-pencil format. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing hypotheses on specific environmental causal effects on behavior.

There have been strong critiques of the notion that environmental influences can have an important effect on psychological functioning. The substance of these criticisms is considered in order to infer the methodological challenges that have to be met. Concepts of cause and of the testing of causal effects are discussed with a particular focus on the need to consider sample selection and the value (and limitations) of longitudinal data. The designs that may be used to test hypotheses on specific environmental risk mechanisms for psychopathology are discussed in relation to a range of adoption strategies, twin designs, various types of "natural experiments," migration designs, the study of secular change, and intervention designs. In each case, consideration is given to the need for samples that "pull-apart" variables that ordinarily go together, specific hypotheses on possible causal processes, and the specification and testing of key assumptions. It is concluded that environmental risk hypotheses can be (and have been) put to the test but that it is usually necessary to use a combination of research strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)