The purpose of the current study was to investigate three aspects of the construct validity of attributional style assessment instruments. The first purpose was to determine the independence of stability and globality. The second was to determine if controllability was a dimension of attributional style. The third purpose was to determine if inventories that use real or hypothetical events measure attributional style equally well. One hundred fifty-nine female, and one hudred fifty-five male subjects, completed four questionnaires that assessed attributional style. Results provided some support for the general construct of attributional style. All four factors were found, which demonstrates the support for the four factor model. However, the two factor model may be the best overall method. No method factor (real or hypothetical stimulus event) solution was obtained. Possible sex differences are discussed. The findings are discussed in terms of attribution theory. Suggestions for further research are presented. / Department of Psychological Science

Attribution theory provides a rich foundation of literature addressing how individuals infer causes of behavior. While a great deal of marital therapists have utilized attribution theory to examine dysfunctional patterns of couples, no research to date has examined therapists' own attributions. The purpose of this study was to examine therapists' causal explanations, or attributions, for the difficulties of a marital dyad.One hundred thirty masters and doctoral level students completed the Causal Dimension Scale after viewing a videotape of a couple in an initial interview for therapy. Each subject was randomly assigned to one of three conditions when viewing the videotape: (1) Empathy induction for the wife; (2) empathy induction for the husband; or (3) a control group.Results indicated that empathy instructions did not significantly affect subjects' causal explanations for the couple's problems. Additionally, there was no relationship between empathy-induction and the subsequent prognosis for each spouse. While empathy instructions did not significantly affect therapist prognoses, there were gender differences among therapists and their prognoses. In general, female observers rated the prognosis for therapeutic gain for both the husband and wife higher than did male observers; however, the only significant difference between male and female observers was on the prognosis for therapeutic gain for the husband. Finally, another influential variable affecting therapist prognosis was the video scenario. The prognosis for therapeutic gain for both the husband and the wife was judged to be higher when he/she was the "pursuer" who was upset with the other spouse for spending too much time at work with an opposite-sex co-worker. Implications of this study for marital therapists were discussed. Additionally, limitations as well as suggestions for further research in this area were noted and discussed. Further investigation is needed to examine possible therapist biases in working with couples. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is on the rise. Being overweight or obese is associated with serious medical, psychological, and social consequences. The main social consequence of being overweight or obese is stigma, which is detrimental to overweight and obese people. Three types of obesity stigma reduction interventions have been proposed and tested: changing attributions, increasing empathy, and social consensus. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of these interventions and to determine the effectiveness of an intervention that incorporates major elements of the three interventions. Three hundred eighty one University of Manitoba undergraduate students participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to one of five intervention groups: status quo group, changing attributions group, increasing empathy group, social consensus group, and multi-level intervention group. The interventions involved presenting participants with information intended to influence participants’ perceptions of overweight and obese individuals. Pre-test and post-test ratings were obtained on participants’ attributions about weight, feelings about obese people, and endorsement of positive and negative stereotypes of obese people. Analyses of these ratings revealed that the empathy and multi-level interventions are the only interventions that improved attributions, feelings, and endorsement of stereotypes, and this suggests that the multi-level and empathy interventions were the most powerful. On the other hand, the attribution intervention had the largest overall effect and affected attributions, feelings, and negative stereotypes. Therefore, there are reasons to believe that the attribution intervention was the most powerful in this study. Participants were subsequently asked to rate a target overweight person. Half of all participants were informed that the target was overweight because of medical reasons, while the other half were informed that the target was overweight because of regular overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. Surprisingly, the intervention groups did not significantly differ in target ratings on any variable. Reasons for this lack of effect are discussed. A main effect did occur in the ratings of the target for controllability information. Specifically, participants who were informed that the target was overweight for uncontrollable reasons (e.g., glandular disorder) reported more favorable ratings in liking her and not blaming her, as compared to participants who were informed that the target was overweight for controllable reasons (e.g., regular overeating and sedentary lifestyle). Ratings of the target’s characteristics and physical attractiveness did not change with this manipulation. Overall, this study provided logical and consistent results, while adding specific information to the literature. Further, this study offered a new, effective intervention for obesity stigma reduction, as well as providing some support for the empathy and attribution interventions. These three interventions proved to be the strongest in this study, and perhaps they will one day be used as part of a more global intervention to reduce stigma and discrimination toward overweight and obese people.

This study examined whether participants’ attributions of blame and responsibility toward a victim of domestic violence were influenced by whether or not the victim left her abuser. It also looked at whether or not educational information regarding the difficulties of leaving a violent partner would affect these attributions. Participants, all adults from the United States, either read a vignette in which a woman victim of domestic violence stayed with her abusive husband, or left him. Prior to reading the vignette, some participants were given information about the problems associated with leaving a violent partner, and some were not. All participants completed a scale measuring victim blame. No main effects of whether the victim left or whether the participant received information were found on attributions of blame, and there was not a statistically significant interaction between the victim leaving and presence of information. An interaction between whether or not the participant was a victim of domestic violence and the presence of information was found on victim blame, but further research should examine this more closely with a study specifically designed to investigate victims and their perceptions.

Actor-observer bias är benägenheten för människor att attribuera sitt eget beteende utifrån omständigheter och andras beteende utifrån deras person. Vi tenderar dessutom att favorisera och vara mer förlåtande i attributionerna till de som tillhör vår ingrupp. Studiens syfte var att undersöka huruvida graden av tillhörighet till ingruppen, kön, påverkar hur vi attribuerar. Studien genomfördes med 102 deltagare, 51 kvinnor och 51 män. En konfliktsituation mellan ett par presenterades för deltagarna där den ena parten i förhållandet (X) beter sig illa mot den andra. Enkäten förekom i tre versioner med X som kvinna, man eller deltagaren själv. Det predicerades bl a att deltagare som upplever hög identifiering med sin ingrupp kommer attribuera övervägande externt då X hör till dennes ingrupp. Resultatet visade inget signifikant stöd för denna hypotes. Tendenser för att kvinnans beteende bedömdes hårdare kunde dock urskiljas. Betydelsen av detta, den eventuella inverkan av könsroller samt framtida forskning diskuteras.

Olika forskningsdiscipliner har i över 60 år studerat attribution. Dock finns ett kunskapsglapp då de flesta studier har gjorts på vuxna människor. Undersökningen koncentrerades därför till att studera attribution hos förskolebarn och söka reda på deras spontana reaktioner på sagofigurer och porträtt, samt deras bedömning av olika egenskaper hos dem. Deltagare var 16 förskolebarn, varav 9 flickor, vilka intervjuades i 45 minuter var. En innehållsanalys genomfördes vilken resulterade i olika teman och kategorier, därefter genomfördes en separat analys för barnens bedömning av tjocka respektive smala personer. Huvudresultatet visade att kategorier som var kopplade till utseendet var mer betydande än andra kategorier, samt att tendensen att föredra smala personer över tjocka påvisades. Resultaten diskuterades utifrån olika synvinklar på hur dessa resultat speglar samhället, och utifrån olika teorier om utveckling, samt vad detta kan tänkas ha för inverkan på både individen och samhället.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-117).

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-41). Also available via the Internet.

Zugl.: Hildesheim, Univ., Diss., 2009