Attributions, beliefs about control, and adjustment to breast cancer

Attributions for cancer and beliefs about control over cancer were examined for their association with adjustment to breast cancer. Although 95% of the respondents made attributions for their cancer, no particular attribution (e.g., stress, diet) was associated with better adjustment. Analyses of attributions of responsibility for the cancer to the self, environment, another person, or chance yielded only a negative relation between adjustment and blaming another person. In contrast, both the belief that one could now control one's cancer and the belief that others (e.g. the physician) could now control the cancer were significantly associated with good adjustment. Of the different types of control, cognitive control was most strongly associated with adjustment, behavior control was less strongly associated with adjustment, and information control and retrospective control were unassociated with adjustment. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

A Meta‐Analysis of Self‐Attributions Following Three Types of Trauma: Sexual Victimization,Illness, and Injury1

Victim self‐attributions (e.g., that one caused an event or was responsible for its occurrence) have been discussed frequently in the trauma literature. However, little empirical work has sought to test the extant theoretical models conceptualizing why self‐attributions occur. We investigated by meta‐analysis the prevalence and predictors of self‐attributions following 3 traumatic events—sexual victimization, illness, and severe injury—in an attempt to identify predictors of self‐attributions and to examine extant theoretical models. The results supported that self‐attribution is not the modal response to trauma. In addition, partial support was found for the extant theoretical models, but no one model could explain the entire pattern of findings. Implications of these results for future empirical and theoretical work are discussed.     

Consistent Belief in a Good True Self in Misanthropes and Three Interdependent Cultures

People sometimes explain behavior by appealing to an essentialist concept of the self, often referred to as the true self. Existing studies suggest that people tend to believe that the true self is morally virtuous; that is deep inside, every person is motivated to behave in morally good ways. Is this belief particular to individuals with optimistic beliefs or people from Western cultures, or does it reflect a widely held cognitive bias in how people understand the self? To address this question, we tested the good true self theory against two potential boundary conditions that are known to elicit different beliefs about the self as a whole. Study 1 tested whether individual differences in misanthropy—the tendency to view humans negatively—predict beliefs about the good true self in an American sample. The results indicate a consistent belief in a good true self, even among individuals who have an explicitly pessimistic view of others. Study 2 compared true self‐attributions across cultural groups, by comparing samples from an independent country (USA) and a diverse set of interdependent countries (Russia, Singapore, and Colombia). Results indicated that the direction and magnitude of the effect are comparable across all groups we tested. The belief in a good true self appears robust across groups varying in cultural orientation or misanthropy, suggesting a consistent psychological tendency to view the true self as morally good.     

Knowledge Attributions and Behavioral Predictions

Recent work has shown that knowledge attributions affect how people think others should behave, more so than belief attributions do. This paper reports two experiments providing evidence that (a) knowledge attributions also affect behavioral predictions more strongly than belief attributions do, and (b) knowledge attributions facilitate faster behavioral predictions than belief attributions do. Thus, knowledge attributions play multiple critical roles in social cognition, guiding judgments about how people should and will behave.     

The Relationship of Informational Attributions to Affective Response to Success and Failure

Abstract

This study assessed the relationship of informational attributions—perceived characteristics of the self and the task situation—to postperformance affect. College students performed an anagram task and rated causal and informational attributions for their outcomes, the causal dimensions for the perceived causes of their outcomes, and their affective response to their outcomes. The valence of the outcome—success or failure—was the best predictor of affect, and both causal attributions and causal dimensions accounted for substantial portions of the affect variance. Informational attributions accounted for a significant proportion of the affect variance beyond that attributable to the other factors. Implications of these results for the attributional theory of emotion are discussed.     

The bivalent fear of evaluation model of social anxiety: further integrating findings on fears of positive and negative evaluation

Accumulating evidence supports the premise that fear of evaluation in general is important in social anxiety, including fear of positive evaluation (FPE) as well as fear of negative evaluation (FNE). This study tested various hypotheses pertaining to a novel, expanded conceptualization of social anxiety involving these two distinct fears: the bivalent fear of evaluation (BFOE) model. Responses from a large undergraduate sample (N = 585) were examined. In addition, responses from a subsample of participants qualifying for a probable diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 133) were examined, via mediational analyses, for potential mechanisms underlying FPE within highly socially anxious individuals. FPE exhibited a unique and significantly stronger relationship with concerns of social reprisal due to making positive impressions than did FNE. FPE related uniquely and negatively to trait positive affect/automatic thoughts, whereas FNE, FPE, and social anxiety all related uniquely and positively to trait negative affect/automatic thoughts. FPE, FNE, and social anxiety all related uniquely and positively to disqualification of positive social outcomes (DPSO). However, FPE related most strongly to DPSO attributions at the level of the self, and these attributions mediated the relationship between FPE and negative automatic thoughts in an analog clinical sample. Concerns of social reprisal due to making positive impressions on others mediated the relationship between FPE and DPSO attributions to others in an analog clinical sample. The obtained findings replicate and extend support for the BFOE model of social anxiety. Implications for the theoretical conceptualization and treatment of SAD are discussed.     

The Analysis of Verbal Explanations for Marital Separation: Implications for Attribution Theory1

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the structure and content of real-life attributions, using these data to examine some important theoretical and empirical issues in attribution theory. The causal attributions examined came from free-response verbal protocols of explanations for marital separation of 29 males and 33 females living in New Zealand. Respondents gave causal importance weghts to the attributions from their verbal protocols, utilizing the technique of subjective magnitude estimation. Ipsative data, representing perceived causal responsibility for different attribution targets (self, ex-spouse, external factors, etc.), were derived from these weights, and the impact a range of independent variables exerted on these derived free-response attribution percentages was examined. Evidence is presented which supports the validity and reliability of this technique. The normative data gathered was found to be both consistent and inconsistent with different aspects of attribution theory. The implications for attribution theory are discussed.     

Using Attributions to Understand the Effects of Explanations on Applicant Reactions: Are Reactions Consistent With the Covariation Principle?1

Research has shown that explanations for selection decisions may influence a variety of applicant perceptions and behavior, but an understanding of how and why this occurs remains largely unknown. This study attempts to understand the effects of explanations by adopting Kelley's (1967, 1972) covariation model of the attribution process. Specifically, explanations that vary on consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency covariation information should produce predictable effects on applicant perceptions and attributions. Results from 2 studies, the first a laboratory study and the second a field study with actual applicants, support the utility of the covariation model for understanding the influence of explanations for selection decisions on locus attributions, fairness, self‐perceptions, and organizational attractiveness. These results suggest that the covariation model may be a useful means to construe the explanation‐attribution‐perception relationship, and thus provide a number of theoretical and practical implications.     

Helping others or helping oneself? An episodic examination of the behavioral consequences of helping at work

Scholars have paid an increasing amount of attention to organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), with a particular emphasis on helping others at work. In addition, recent empirical work has focused on how OCB is an intraindividual phenomenon, such that employees vary daily in the extent to which they help others. However, one limitation of this research has been an overemphasis on well‐being consequences associated with daily helping (e.g., changes in affect and mental depletion) and far less attention on behavioral outcomes. In this study, we develop a self‐regulatory framework that articulates how helping others at work is a depleting experience that can lead to a reduction in subsequent acts of helping others, and an increase in behaviors aimed at helping oneself (i.e., engaging in political acts). We further theorize how two individual differences—prevention focus and political skill—serve as cross‐level moderators of these relations. In an experience sampling study of 91 full‐time employees across 10 consecutive workdays, our results illustrate that helping is a depleting act that makes individuals more likely to engage in self‐serving acts and less likely to help others. Moreover, the relation of helping acts with depletion is strengthened for employees who have higher levels of prevention focus.     

Self-awareness, probability of improvement, and the self-serving bias.

Evidence for the self-serving bias (attributing success internally and failure externally) is inconsistent. Although internal success attributions are consistently found, researchers find both internal and external attributions for failure. The authors explain these disparate effects by considering the intersection of 2 systems, a system comparing self against standards and a causal attribution system. It was predicted that success and failure attributions are moderated by self-awareness and by the ability to improve. When self-focus is high (a) success is attributed internally. (b) failure is attributed internally when people can improve, (c) failure is attributed externally when people cannot improve, and (d) these attributions affect state self-esteem. Implications for the self-serving bias are discussed.     

How do I Analyze Thee? Let Me Count the Ways: Considering Empathy in Couple Relationships using Self and Partner Ratings

In this article we describe some of the benefits and challenges of using self ratings and ratings of the partner to measure empathy and similar terms in couple research. If both members of the dyad are assessed, there will be four measures of the same variable. How to use these 4 measures in research and clinical work is a central question in this paper. We demonstrate 3 different latent models that can be used to analyze these ratings based on different theoretical premises. Using empathy as the independent variable with a longitudinal sample of 275 couples, structural equation models are used to evaluate the strength of these models in predicting relationship satisfaction. The findings indicate that the model that is consistent with the social constructionist perspective that focuses on the perceptions within the same person is a good fit to the data. Other models that compare ratings between members of the dyad do not fit the data well. The results demonstrate that perceptions of empathy do have a significant influence on relationship satisfaction across time, especially for females. However, it is largely males' perceptions of empathy of the self and the partner that influence relationship satisfaction for females.     

Responsibility Attribution And Helping Behaviour In The Ash Wednesday Bushfires

The theoretical and empirical literature on the attribution of responsibility and helping behaviour suggests that a causal relationship exists between the perception of a victim's responsibility for his or her distress and the observer's willingness to help. This relationship was examined in a study of the attributions Victorians made and the amount of help (donations) given to the victims of the Ash Wednesday bushfires. The survey responses of 372 subjects indicated that although many people attributed a considerable degree of responsibility to the victims, attributions were unrelated to subsequent helping behaviour. Instead, helping was mediated by feelings of personal obligation to lend assistance and feelings of sympathy for the victims. It is argued that attribution theory may not be relevant to serious situations where norms for helping are highly salient.     

Too hot to help! Exploring the impact of ambient temperature on helping

Building on the conservation of resources model, we conducted three studies to explore the link between ambient temperature and individual prosocial behavior. In study 1, analyzing the two‐wave field data from a chain of retail stores in Eastern Europe, we find that, in hot, as opposed to normal temperatures, employees are less likely to act in a prosocial manner. In study 2, we replicate and extend these findings in a randomized controlled experiment by identifying mechanisms underlying the relationship between hot ambient temperature and helping behavior. Specifically, we find that heat increases fatigue that leads to reduction in positive affect and subsequently reduces individual helping. Finally, in study 3, we replicate these findings in a field experiment. Taken together, our study helps to explain how and through what mechanisms ambient temperature influences individual helping. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

A test of whether attributions provide for self-enhancement or self-defense

It is well known that people often make attributions in a way that is favorable to their self-concepts (see R. L. Collins, 1996, for a review). However, it is less clear whether the primary effect is to enhance self-esteem or to defend against the possible loss of self-esteem. The authors performed an experiment to test these possibilities against each other. In a completely between-participants design, participants recalled either a positive behavior or a negative behavior that was performed by themselves or others. They then judged the positivity or negativity of the behavior and made trait attributions about the actor (i.e., himself, herself, or others). The results indicated that although judgments and trait attributions for positive behaviors were similar for the self and for others, judgments and trait attributions for negative behaviors were less negative for the self than they were for others. The authors interpreted these and other findings as supporting a defensive strategy rather than an enhancive strategy.     

The effect of subject's race and other's race on judgments of causality for success and failure

This study examined the proposition that blacks and whites make dispositional attributions for an in-group's positive behaviors and an out-group's negative behaviors. The study also examined whether this positive in-group bias was caused by dislike of the out-group or belief in a stereotype. Thus, blacks and whites made attributions to black and white others who succeeded or failed on tasks for which there was either no stereotype or a more negative stereotype of whites than of blacks. An out-group other's failure on both tasks was attributed to lack of ability more than was an in-group other's failure. This finding suggests that the in-group bias is caused by dislike of the out-group. Furthermore, in success conditions subjects' attributions to the in-group or out-group other did not differ. It was suggested that these attributions may result from a combination of an in-group bias and a polarized appraisal.     

Attributions of Responsibility for Obesity: Narrative Communication Reduces Reactive Counterarguing Among Liberals

Informed by theory and research on attributions and narrative persuasion, we compared the effectiveness of narrative and nonnarrative messages in changing attributions of responsibility for causes and solutions related to obesity in the United States. We randomly assigned 500 adults to view one of three messages (narrative, evidence, and a hybrid of the two) emphasizing environmental causes of obesity, or a no‐exposure control condition. The narrative condition increased the belief that societal actors (government, employers) are responsible for addressing obesity, but only among liberals. This pattern of results was partially explained by the success of the narrative condition in reducing reactive counterarguing, relative to the evidence condition, among liberals. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.     

Why and for whom does the pressure to help hurt others? Affective and cognitive mechanisms linking helping pressure to workplace deviance

Scholars are paying increasing attention to the “dark side” of citizenship behavior. One aspect of this dark side that has received relatively scant attention is “helping pressure”—an employee's perception that s/he is being encouraged to, or otherwise feels that s/he should, enact helping behavior at work. Drawing from theory associated with work stress, we examine affective and cognitive mechanisms that potentially explain why helping pressure, counterintuitively, may lead employees to engage in deviant behavior instead. Beyond examining these possible mechanisms, we also answer calls to identify a potential buffer to these effects. Drawing from self-determination theory, we examine how an employee's intrinsic motivation for citizenship may lessen the deleterious consequences of helping pressure at work. In two studies (a within-individual experience-sampling study and a two-wave between-individual study), we find consistent evidence that helping pressure has a positive indirect relationship with deviant behavior through increased negative affect. Further, we find evidence that intrinsic motivation for citizenship weakens the positive relationship of helping pressure with negative affect, buffering the indirect effect on subsequent deviant behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for the study of helping pressure at work are discussed.     

Prosocial emotions and helping: the moderating role of group membership

In this article, the authors introduce and test a group-level perspective on the role of empathy and interpersonal attraction in helping. In line with our predictions, Study 1, a longitudinal field study of 166 AIDS volunteers, confirmed that empathy was a stronger predictor of helping when the recipient of assistance was an in-group member than when that person was an out-group member. Also as hypothesized, attraction was a stronger predictor of helping when the recipient was an out-group member than when that person was an in-group member. Study 2 replicated and further extended these results in a laboratory experiment on spontaneous helping of a person with hepatitis. Strengthening the validity of the findings, in both studies the effects of empathy and attraction held up even when the authors statistically controlled for potential alternative predictors of helping. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for helping in intergroup contexts are discussed.     

The ‘I's Have it: Nietzsche on Subjectivity

This paper identifies recent attributions to Nietzsche of skeptical arguments about the subject in its theoretical and practical capacities and argues that they are wrong. Although Nietzsche does criticize the picture of the subject as a unity that exerts influence in the world from outside it, he does so in order to replace it with a richer, more complex model of subjectivity. The skeptical arguments attributed to Nietzsche attempt to assimilate features of subjectivity to some alternative, purportedly more familiar explanatory account, and then move from this assimilation to the denial of subjectivity altogether. There are three main strategies for making this latter move, which are referred to in this paper as appeal to ontology, appeal to justification, and appeal to explanation. Each fails for different reasons, but all misconstrue Nietzsche's explanatory interests regarding subjectivity. Those interests, this paper argues, are what lead Nietzsche to argue that a single person comprises a multiplicity of subjectivities, and that all explanation is ultimately telic in form. This paper then discusses some of the appeals that Nietzsche makes to account for the possibility of single, unitary subjectivity within this framework, including: his account of the relationship between constituent and corporate units within fully self‐relating subjectivity, his account of the relation between “inner” and “outer”, his account of pluralist individualism, and his account of unconscious “depth”. This paper concludes by arguing that Nietzsche's distinctive approach suggests a way to relate theoretical questions about the mental to practical questions about the self and ethical commitment.     

Attentional bias for threat: Evidence for delayed disengagement from emotional faces

This study examined cognitive aspects of coping with stress, how these related to religiosity, and how they related to outcomes (positive mood and distress). Participants (n=126) were of Protestant or Jewish background, and had all experienced recent major stress. They were assessed on measures of religiosity, religious coping, perception of the consequences of the stressful event, attributions for its occurrence, and distress, intrusive unpleasant thoughts, and positive affect. Religiosity affected ways of thinking about the stressful situation, namely: Belief that G-d is enabling the individual to bear their troubles (religious/spiritual support), belief that it was all for the best, and (more weakly) belief that all is ultimately controlled by G-d. Religiosity affected neither the proportion of positive consequences perceived as outcomes of the event, nor the causal attributions examined. Religious background (Protestant vs. Jewish) had negligible effects on the cognitions measures. Causal pathway analysis suggested that religion-related cognitions might directly affect positive affect, but not distress. Problems of design and interpretation are discussed. The study suggests some cognitively mediated means by which religion may have comforting effects.