Attribution of Responsibility: From Man the Scientist to Man As Lawyer

Abstract

In this chapter, attribution of responsibility: From Man, to Scientist to Man as the Lawyer, is discussed. The expression “attribution of responsibility” has two major connotations. First, it suggests a clearly demarcated area of research concerned with the study of how responsibility is assigned. Second, the use of the term “attribution” in the expression implies that the assignment of responsibility is described as a process that is directly comparable to the perception of causality as studied in attribution research. Both these inferences are challenged in this chapter, for the recent popularity of attribution theory that has not been matched by an equally discriminating terminology. The chapter considers the attribution of responsibility from three different points of view, taken explicitly into account in social psychology. Recent theoretical developments in attribution are discussed in the chapter. Despite the voluminous and increasing literature purporting to deal with attribution of responsibility, empirical research on this topic appears deficient in several respects. Factors as language and social context are very likely to influence attributions of responsibility.