Attraction to a Beneficent Victim: Choice, Hedonic Relevance and Correspondence of Inferences

Abstract

Correspondence refers to the certainty with which an observer makes a trait inference about an actor (e.g., the actor is likable) based on the actor's behavior (e.g., the actor helped the observer). In the present experiment, the effects of choice and hedonic relevance of the victim's behavior on ratings of certainty of liking and motive for a victim whose suffering benefits an observer was investigated among 32 female college students. The certainty of liking for the beneficent victim whose suffering came as random shocks while learning a list of paired-associates was reduced by the combination of choice and positive hedonic relevance and was accompanied by increased uncertainty about the victim's motive for choosing to suffer. It was concluded that multiple inferences about an actor may be related and choice does not necessarily guarantee the certainty of any inference.