Is Weiner's attribution‐help model stable across cultures? A test in Brazilian subcultures

The effect of attribution of responsibility on the intention to help is a well‐studied effect. The Weiner model of attribution‐emotion‐help is the main theoretical development to describe the structural relation between these variables. Some research results have suggested that culture influences the relation between model variables. Collectivists tend to show more compassionate emotions independent of attribution of responsibility whereby emotion is no longer a mediator. The present research aims to test the Weiner model in Brazil, a country with established subcultures and clear distinctions in the collectivism–individualism dimension across its regions. An experiment with 1,569 participants from all five Brazilian regions was conducted. Path analysis revealed that more socially oriented participants tended to feel more compassion for the experimental scenario's protagonist, independent of controllability manipulation, decreasing the effect of emotions in the model. These results depict the effect of culture on the model, questioning the stability of the model across cultures.     

Do you see what I see? Co-actor posture modulates visual processing in joint tasks

ABSTRACT

Interacting with other people is a ubiquitous part of daily life. A complex set of processes enable our successful interactions with others. The present research was conducted to investigate how the processing of visual stimuli may be affected by the presence and the hand posture of a co-actor. Experiments conducted with participants acting alone have revealed that the distance from the stimulus to the hand of a participant can alter visual processing. In the main experiment of the present paper, we asked whether this posture-related source of visual bias persists when participants share the task with another person. The effect of personal and co-actor hand-proximity on visual processing was assessed through object-specific benefits to visual recognition in a task performed by two co-actors. Pairs of participants completed a joint visual recognition task and, across different blocks of trials, the position of their own hands and of their partner's hands varied relative to the stimuli. In contrast to control studies conducted with participants acting alone, an object-specific recognition benefit was found across all hand location conditions. These data suggest that visual processing is, in some cases, sensitive to the posture of a co-actor.     

Religion and Helping Charitable Causes

Two studies assessed the relationship between religiousness and various measures of self-reported helping behavior, as well as actual volunteering for charitable causes. Results indicated that, although religious students in this study (as measured by a Christian Orthodoxy scale) indicated that they were more likely to volunteer to help in religion-related contexts, they did not report being, nor were they actually, more likely than less religious individuals to volunteer to help (nonreligious) charitable groups. Consistent with past research, however, those with an intrinsic religious orientation did volunteer to help charitable groups more than did those with an extrinsic religious orientation.     

Infants attribute goals even to biomechanically impossible actions

Human infants readily interpret the actions of others in terms of goals, but the origins of this important cognitive skill are keenly debated. We tested whether infants recognize others′ actions as goal-directed on the basis of their experience with carrying out and observing goal-directed actions, or whether their perception of a goal-directed action is based on the recognition of a specific event structure. Counterintuitively, but consistent with our prediction, we observed that infants appear to extend goal attribution even to biomechanically impossible actions so long as they are physically efficient, indicating that the notion of ‘goal′ is unlikely to be derived directly from infants′ experience.     

Your own actions influence how you perceive other people: A misattribution of action appraisals

The attribution of personal traits to other persons depends on the actions the observer performs at the same time (Bach & Tipper, 2007). Here, we show that the effect reflects a misattribution of appraisals of the observers’ own actions to the actions of others. We exploited spatial compatibility effects to manipulate how fluently—how fast and how accurately—participants identified two individuals performing sporty or academic actions. The traits attributed to each person in a subsequent rating task depended on the fluency of participants’ responses in a specific manner. An individual more fluently identified while performing the academic action appeared more academic and less sporty. An individual more fluently identified while performing the sporty action appeared sportier. Thus, social perception is—at least partially—embodied. The ease of our own responses can be misattributed to the actions of others, affecting which personal traits are attributed to them.     

It’s in your nature: a pluralistic folk psychology

I suggest a pluralistic account of folk psychology according to which not all predictions or explanations rely on the attribution of mental states, and not all intentional actions are explained by mental states. This view of folk psychology is supported by research in developmental and social psychology. It is well known that people use personality traits to predict behavior. I argue that trait attribution is not shorthand for mental state attributions, since traits are not identical to beliefs or desires, and an understanding of belief or desire is not necessary for using trait attributions. In addition, we sometimes predict and explain behavior through appeal to personality traits that the target wouldn’t endorse, and so could not serve as the target’s reasons. I conclude by suggesting that our folk psychology includes the notion that some behavior is explained by personality traits—who the person is—rather than by beliefs and desires—what the person thinks. Consequences of this view for the debate between simulation theory and theory theory, as well as the debate on chimpanzee theory of mind are discussed.     

中国传统文化取向管理人员的成败归因风格研究

选用台湾杨国枢先生编制的《传统性量表》和自编《管理成败归因风格问卷》,随机选取542名企业管理人员,调查研究中国传统文化取向管理人员的成败归因风格特征。研究发现：1）“孝亲敬祖”和“宿命自保”文化取向的人,成功外归因的倾向显著地高于成功内归因倾向。2）“男性优越”、“权威守成”、“宿命自保”文化取向的人,失败不可控外归因倾向显著地高于失败内归因倾向。     

On the meaning of meaning when being mean: commentary on Berkowitz's "on the consideration of automatic as well as controlled psychological processes in aggression"

Berkowitz (this issue) makes a cogent case for his cognitive neo-associationist (CNA) model that some aggressive behaviors occur automatically, emotionally, and through conditioned association with other stimuli. He also proposes that they can occur without "processing," that is, without meaning. He contrasts his position with that of social information processing (SIP) models, which he casts as positing only controlled processing mechanisms for aggressive behavior. However, both CNA and SIP models posit automatic as well as controlled processes in aggressive behavior. Most aggressive behaviors occur through automatic processes, which are nonetheless rule governed. SIP models differ from the CNA model in asserting the essential role of meaning (often through nonconscious, automatic, and emotional processes) in mediating the link between a stimulus and an angry aggressive behavioral response.     

归因取向理论建构及实证

尝试用一种新的视角—— 取向研究视角, 对以往归因理论进行整合研究, 建构一种与社会情境结合更紧密, 更具概括性的归因取向理论。归因取向理论的假设建构模型包括四种归因取向维度：社会取向, 个人取向, 积极取向和消极取向。根据理论模型编制归因取向量表, 以1301名被试为研究对象, 运用探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析方法对该理论模型进行实证研究。结果证明了该理论建构的存在, 理论建构中各维度的因素负荷和拟合指数良好, 归因取向量表具有良好的信度和建构效度。检验归因取向维度和8个社会心理变量的关系, 证明了四种归因取向维度具有概括性、普遍性、稳定性和评估有效性特征。     

试论医生医疗工作归因

借鉴目前归因理论研究的成果,重点探讨了医生医疗工作归因的含义、结构、作用及方法,提出医生应学会对自己医疗工作中的成败进行合理的归因,自觉地总结经验、汲取教训,不断取得医学事业上的成功.