The influence of attributed motive on the acceptance of statement.

The principles or conditions governing the manner in which attitude toward a given motive affects evaluations of behavior are here considered. Ss are presented a relatively homogeneous set of statements of social policy which are attributed to authors of different valence. In addition, the Es arbitrarily assigned a positive or negative motive to a different author. Analysis shows that there is a significantly higher acceptance of statements to which a positive motive is attributed. The mean acceptance of an author is higher if his statements are attributed a positive motive. In addition, an interaction effect between motive and author exists. The implications of these results on social behavior are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)