Perceptions of the Onset Controllability of AIDS and Helping Judgments: An Attributional Analysis1

Abstract

Weiner's attributional model of helping behavior is used to examine the relationship between the perceived controllability of the onset of AIDS, the affective reactions of pity and anger, and helping judgments. In this model, the effect of the perceived controllability of another person's need on helping is mediated by pity and anger. In the present study, respondents read one of five scenarios describing a friend who had just been diagnosed with AIDS. The cause of the disease was manipulated in the scenarios. Knowledge about HIV transmission measures and respondent's gender were added as control variables to the original model, which was tested by using path analysis. The findings partially support Weiner's model. The effect of the perceived onset controllability of AIDS on helping judgments was mediated by pity, but not by anger. Respondents' anger toward a friend with AIDS did not inhibit help‐giving.