Effects Of Causal Attributions Research Articles

Dyadic perceptions of depression and anxiety in romantic relationships

This study investigated dyadic perceptions of the causes of mental health symptoms within dating couples. We tested the extent to which a participant’s beliefs about their romantic partner’s attributions about mental health were accurate and/or biased and the extent to which causal attributions about mental health predicted relationship quality. Ninety-four dyads ( N = 188) reported on biological and psychological causes of mental health symptoms and relationship conflict and support. Consistent with hypotheses, the actor–partner interdependence model revealed more bias than accuracy in perceptions of the causes of mental health symptoms. Results also showed more effects of causal attributions on relationship quality for the romantic partner than for the participant with symptoms and more effects of controllable psychological causes on relationship quality relative to uncontrollable psychological or any biological causes. While relationship quality was generally positive, endorsement of most causes of mental health symptoms predicted higher conflict and lower support. These accuracy and bias effects as well as the effects on the romantic partner affirm the importance of studying both members of the romantic relationship because they would have been missed completely if only studying the participant with mental health symptoms. In terms of clinical practice, working with couples whose attributions align might look differently than working with couples who are not so aligned.

Political Orientation and Public Attributions for the Causes and Solutions of Physical Inactivity in Canada: Implications for Policy Support.

Objectives: To examine how public attributions for the causes and solutions of physical inactivity and individuals' self-identified political orientation are associated with support for different policy actions in addressing physical inactivity.Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted with a sample of 2,044 Canadian adults. Two sets of 2 X 3 analyses of variance and post-hoc analyses were conducted to assess (1) the mean differences by the causes of the issue of physical inactivity (individual, or both internal and external/external) and political orientation (liberal, centrist, and conservative), and (2) responsibility for solutions (private matter, or both private and public health matter, and /public health matter) and political orientation on support for least, moderate, and most intrusive policy actions.Results: No interaction effects existed between causal attribution and political orientation on policy support, but a main effect of causal attributions for physical inactivity and political orientation was significant. Those who held internal attributions for the cause of physical inactivity showed less support for policies compared to those who held external causal attributions or both internal and external causal attributions. Conservative individuals reported the least support for all policy actions in comparison to liberal or centrist orientations. There were interaction effects between responsibility for solutions and political orientation on policy support. Conservative individuals who perceived the responsibility for solving physical inactivity as a private matter had less support for all three policy actions.Conclusions: Public acceptance of policy actions addressing physical inactivity varies by the attributions the public have regarding causes and responsibility for solving the problem, and by political orientation. Advocacy and messaging for policy implementation in the physical activity arena needs to be communicated in ways that encourage reflective and informed deliberation that is representative of the Canadian population.

Crisis Management and Corporate Apology: The Effects of Causal Attribution and Apology Type on Publics’ Cognitive and Affective Responses

This study examined how corporate apologies influence cognitive and affective public responses (public anger, negative impression, distrust) during an aviation crisis. A total of 192 participants were exposed to one of the two types of causal attribution (internal vs. external) and one of the two types of corporate apology (responsibility-oriented vs. sympathy-oriented). This study found that a responsibility-oriented apology significantly more reduced public anger, negative impression, and distrust of an airline company than a sympathy-oriented apology in an internal/controllable crisis situation. Theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Stakeholder Attributions in Crises: The Effects of Covariation Information and Attributional Inferences on Organizational Reputation

Organizational crises and related communication activities can create severe threat to the reputation of organizations. However, the kinds of information stakeholders rely on to decide about causes and responsibility for crises are still not well researched. Therefore, this study investigates if and how stakeholders covary organizations with crisis causes and how this affects their perceptions of organizational responsibility and reputation. An experimental study that was conducted with stakeholders of a German university showed that covariation information patterns as proposed by Kelley are significantly related to causal attributions. The subsequent structural equation modeling analysis revealed support for the assumption that organizational responsibility mediates the effect of causal attributions on reputation. Finally, potential applications of findings in the field of strategic crisis communication are discussed.

Who Deserves Health Care? The Effects of Causal Attributions and Group Cues on Public Attitudes About Responsibility for Health Care Costs

This research investigates the impact of cues about ascriptive group characteristics (race, class, gender) and the causes of ill health (health behaviors, inborn biological traits, social systemic factors) on beliefs about who deserves society's help in paying for the costs of medical treatment. Drawing on data from three original vignette experiments embedded in a nationally representative survey of American adults, we find that respondents are reluctant to blame or deny societal support in response to explicit cues about racial attributes--but equally explicit cues about the causal impact of individual behaviors on health have large effects on expressed attitudes. Across all three experiments, a focus on individual behavioral causes of illness is associated with increased support for individual responsibility for health care costs and lower support for government-financed health insurance. Beliefs about social groups and causal attributions are, however, tightly intertwined. We find that when groups suffering ill health are defined in racial, class, or gender terms, Americans differ in their attribution of health disparities to individual behaviors versus biological or systemic factors. Because causal attributions also affect health policy opinions, varying patterns of causal attribution may reinforce group stereotypes and undermine support for universal access to health care.

Who deserves to be sick? An exploration of the relationships between belief in a just world, illness causal attributions and their fairness judgements

This research explored relationships between beliefs about justice, illness causal attributions and fairness judgements of those causes. Participants (n = 200) completed questionnaires assessing their belief in a just world (BJW) and measuring causal attributions and fairness judgements for 42 illness causes classified into behavioural, environmental and hidden (genetic, mystic, psychosocial) categories. As predicted, BJW was correlated positively with all fairness judgements, but with none of the illness causal attributions. Behavioural causes of illness were judged to be fairer than environmental causes, which were judged fairer than hidden causes. Finally, for environmental and hidden causes (uncontrollable illness attributions), positive correlations between causal attributions and their corresponding fairness judgements were found only among participants with high BJW. Implications of these findings for decision makers and health professionals are discussed, with emphasis on the need to consider the combined effect of causal attributions and BJW on illness fairness judgements.

Efeitos da atribuição de causalidade e custo pessoal sobre a intenção de ajuda

Este artigo tem como objetivo avaliar o efeito da atribuição de responsabilidade e o custo em ajudar sobre a intenção de comportamento de ajuda, bem como a mediação exercida pelo estado emocional sobre a relação entre atribuição e ajuda. Realizou-se um estudo de simulação de cenários experimentais, do qual participaram 181 estudantes universitários. Foi desenvolvido um cenário organizado em um delineamento fatorial 2 (atribuição: controlabilidade X incontrolabilidade) X 3 (custo: alto, médio e baixo). Os resultados apontam que a percepção de falta de controle do alvo sobre a situação leva a estados de afeto positivo e maior intenção de ajuda e que quanto maior o custo, menor a intenção de ajuda. Conclui-se que o custo e a atribuição de culpa são fatores relevantes na determinação da intenção de ajuda.

Crime Salience, Perceived Racial Bias, and Blacks' Punitive Attitudes

When it comes to criminal justice policy, black Americans face an important dilemma. On the one hand, black communities benefit from criminal penalties that remove offenders from their neighborhoods; on the other, punitive policies draw many blacks into a criminal justice system they view as racially discriminatory. Using data from the 2001 Race, Crime, and Public Opinion study, this paper examines how the competing concerns of crime salience and perceived racial bias in the criminal justice system affect blacks' support for harsh criminal justice policies. The effects of causal attributions for crime, political ideology, exposure to incarceration, and demographic factors are also addressed. The results indicate that fear of crime and individualistic attributions for criminal behavior have a significant and positive effect on their punitive attitudes, while perceived racial bias and vicarious exposure to incarceration decrease blacks' support for harsh punishments.

What Affects Self-Esteem of Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities: The Role of Causal Attributions of Mental Illnesses.

This study addresses the factors which affect the self-esteem of persons with psychiatric disabilities, with a specific focus on the role of causal attributions of mental illnesses. It is based on data collected from 461 persons with psychiatric disabilities (consumers) served through psychiatric rehabilitation agencies. The results of regression analyses revealed that household income, diagnosis, psychiatric symptoms, service satisfaction, perceived stigma, and perceptions of social roles were all related to self-esteem. Consumers' causal attributions did not have direct effects on self-esteem, but the effects of causal attributions on self-esteem were moderated by psychiatric symptoms and by perceptions of social roles, suggesting that self-esteem enhancement strategies should be tailored to consumers' psychiatric and cognitive characteristics.

Opportunism in Capital Budget Recommendations: The Effects of Past Performance and Its Attributions*

AbstractThis study uses an experiment to examine the separate and combined effects of managers' loss aversion and their causal attributions about their divisions' performance on tendencies to make goal‐incongruent capital budget recommendations. We find that managers' recommendations are biased by their loss aversion. In particular, managers of high‐performing divisions are more likely than managers of low‐performing divisions to propose investments that maximize their division's short‐term profits at the expense of the firm's long‐term value. We also find that managers' recommendations are biased by their causal attributions. In particular, managers are more likely to propose investments that maximize their division's short‐term profits at the expense of the firm's long‐term value when they attribute their division's performance to external causes (e.g., task difficulty or luck) rather than to internal causes (e.g., managerial ability or effort). Further, the effects of causal attributions are greater for managers of high‐performing divisions than for managers of low‐performing divisions. The study's findings are important because loss aversion and causal attributions are often manifested in firms. Thus, they may bias managers' decisions, which in turn may be detrimental to the firms' long‐term value.

Effects of Causal Attributions on Coworker Interactions:A Social Motivation Perspective

Recent restructuring in organizations has led to a greater interdependence among coworkers; however, coworker interactions are not well understood. The purpose of this research was to apply Weiner's (1995b) theory of social conduct to examine coworker interactions following a poor work performance. Four studies were conducted to examine the effects of ability and effort attributions for a worker's poor performance on coworkers' thoughts, feelings, and interactions. In Study 1, ability and effort attributions were manipulated using scenarios. Scales (7-point) were used to assess expectations of future success, responsibility judgments, anger, sympathy, and prosocial and antisocial coworker interactions. Similar methodology was used in Study 2 to examine a broader range of coworker interactions. In Study 3, participants interacted with a confederate playing the role of a poor-performing worker and verbal discredits about the worker were measured. In Study 4, the mediational role of responsibility judgments, anger, and sympathy on coworker interactions was examined using structural equation modeling on a sample of coworkers working in an organization. Significant findings from all 4 studies support the hypothesis that, following poor performance, the reason matters regarding the social motivation of coworkers. These results are discussed in relation to Weiner's (1995b) theory of social conduct and coworker interactions.

Effects of Causal Attributions on Coworker Interactions: A Social Motivation Perspective

Recent restructuring in organizations has led to a greater interdependence among coworkers; however, coworker interactions are not well understood. The purpose of this research was to apply Weiner's (1995b) theory of social conduct to examine coworker interactions following a poor work performance. Four studies were conducted to examine the effects of ability and effort attributions for a worker's poor performance on coworkers' thoughts, feelings, and interactions. In Study 1, ability and effort attributions were manipulated using scenarios. Scales (7-point) were used to assess expectations of future success, responsibility judgments, anger, sympathy, and prosocial and antisocial coworker interactions. Similar methodology was used in Study 2 to examine a broader range of coworker interactions. In Study 3, participants interacted with a confederate playing the role of a poor-performing worker and verbal discredits about the worker were measured. In Study 4, the mediational role of responsibility judgments, anger, and sympathy on coworker interactions was examined using structural equation modeling on a sample of coworkers working in an organization. Significant findings from all 4 studies support the hypothesis that, following poor performance, the reason matters regarding the social motivation of coworkers. These results are discussed in relation to Weiner's (1995b) theory of social conduct and coworker interactions.

Attributions in marriage: examining the entailment model in dyadic context.

The entailment model of attributions is examined for the first time using a dyadic approach and longitudinal data. In a sample of 229 married partners with children, causal attributions were distinguished empirically from responsibility attributions and, consistent with the entailment model, the effect of causal attributions on conflict was mediated through attributions of responsibility. Only 1 path was influenced by spouse gender. Examination of cross-spouse effects revealed significant effects and provided a better fit than a model with no cross-spouse effects. The importance of including cross-spouse effects in attributional models is discussed.

Effects of Causal Attributions on Personnel Decisions: A Social Motivation Perspective

In organizations, many of the crucial decisions concern employees, particularly regarding those who perform poorly. One theory that can potentially assist in understanding how personnel managers make personnel decisions is Weiner's (1995a) attributional theory of social conduct. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of ability (low, high) and effort (low, high) causal information for an employee's poor work performance on personnel decisions. In Study 1, college students played the role of personnel managers and read four performance appraisals written about an employee who missed a deadline at work. Results show that each performance-appraisal vignette elicited a unique decision profile (e.g., to reprimand, to fire, to console). These results were replicated using a sample of individuals with personnel-management experience in Study 2. To examine the extent to which certain personnel decisions are mediated by specific cognitive and affective variables, a structural equation analysis was conducted in Study 3. Findings indicate that there is an acceptable fit of the data to the model tested and that attributions and personnel decisions for poor work performance are mediated by how responsible the employee is judged to be and how much sympathy the evaluator feels. The implications for these results are discussed within the framework of Weiner's attributional theory of social conduct and personnel decision making.

Effects of Causal Attributions on Personnel Decisions: A Social Motivation Perspective

Effects of Causal Attributions on Personnel Decisions: A Social Motivation Perspective

Perceived Task Difficulty, Causal Attributions, and Preferences for Structural Change in Resource Dilemmas

This study investigated the effects of causal attributions for group performance on Preferences for structural change in resource dilemmas. Six-person groups performed a resource management task in which members harvested resource units from a common, replenishable pool. All subjects. received preprogrammed feedback that their group had failed to maintain the common resource. After 10 harvest trials, subjects voted whether to elect a group leader to manage the common pool in a second session. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, two variables were manipulated: perceived cause of group performance (task difficulty, personal greed) and attribution questionnaire (present, absent). As expected, a higher proportion of task difficulty subjects voted for a group leader than did personal greed subjects. This finding suggests that causal attributions for group performance moderate the perceived effectiveness of the structural change, thereby influencing numbers'choices in a manner consistent with structural goal/expectation theory of instrumental cooperation in social dilemmas.

Effects of causal attributions for success on first-term college performance: A covariance structure model.

Effects of causal attributions for success on first-term college performance: A covariance structure model.

Erratum: The Effects of Causal Attributions on Decision Makers' Responses to Performance Downturns

Erratum: The Effects of Causal Attributions on Decision Makers' Responses to Performance Downturns

The Effects of Causal Attributions on Decision Makers' Responses to Performance Downturns

The Effects of Causal Attributions on Decision Makers' Responses to Performance Downturns

The Effects of Causal Attributions on Decision Makers' Responses to Performance Downturns

Understanding organizations' responses to performance downturns requires understanding decision makers' attributions of causality. Drawing on Weiner's causal attribution model, this paper presents a framework for categorizing causal attributions and relates them to internal and external response strategies. Characteristics of downturns, organizations, and decision makers that influence attributions and the dynamics of attributions are discussed.