This study investigated the impact of victim provocativeness and rape history upon male and female subjects' perceptions of attribution of blame toward the rape victim. One hundred and forty-four subjects (a) read one of 12 fictional case reports of a rape incident from a sexual abuse center which systematically varied level of victim provocativeness and rape history and (b) completed a nine-item Rape Questionnaire (RQ). Data were analyzed by a 2 (subject's sex) x 3 (level of provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) analysis of variance on the Rape Questionnaire total score. An ancillary multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also performed on the nine Rape Questionnaire items to check for potential masking of individual item differences from the Rape Questionnaire score. In addition, the data were reanalyzed in the 2 x 3 x 2 design by substituting high versus low scorers on the Attitudes Towards Women Scale (AWS) based upon median splits of the AWS for subject sex. The 2 (subject sex) x 3 (provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) MANOVA resulted in a sex by provocativeness interaction with males, relative to females, attributing more blame as the victim's level of provocativeness increased. In addition, significant differences emerged for provocativeness, rape history, and sex of subject. In general, subjects attributed more blame as the victim's provocativeness increased. Similarly, victims with rape histories were assigned more blame than victims without rape histories. The 2 (AWS) x 3 (provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) MANOVA resulted in a main effect for all three independent variables. In general subjects attributed more blame as the victim's provocativeness increased. Also victims with rape histories were assigned more blame than victims without rape histories. Finally, profeminist individuals attributed less blame to the victim than did traditional individuals. Implications for training of professional counselors and other service-providers are discussed. Future research directions are also noted.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Charles Griffin / Interpersonal hurt in romantic relationships describes many every day interactions couples have. However, these instances of hurt are difficult to identify, talk about, and react to, making the study of such interactions immensely difficult as well. This in-depth literature review of current scholarly work is compiled in an effort to provide groundwork for understanding what hurt is, how individuals conceptualize the hurt they feel, and the coping strategies used to overcome what some scholars call a communicative and social phenomenon. Further, a discussion of future avenues of research and the implications of an expansion on the current research aims to guide future scholars to better understand what so many scholars are attempting to get a handle on.

Cognitive vulnerabilities have been implicated in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorders, two disorders that commonly co-occur. The comorbidity of these two disorders continues to pose a significant threat to the well being of university students. This study investigated the associations between the cognitive vulnerability of negative attributional style and both post-traumatic stress symptoms and alcohol use patterns. The number of reported traumatic events were also included in analyses. A battery of self-report questionnaires was completed by 123 university undergraduate students (mean age of 20.41 years). Negative attributional style was found to be significantly associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms, but not with alcohol use. It was also suggested that multiple traumas have an impact on post-traumatic stress, despite levels of alcohol use. These results suggested that the cognitive vulnerability of negative attributional style is predictive of posttraumatic stress in students and research in this area is valuable for increasing resilience, prevention and recovery among trauma survivors. Recommendations for future research, especially concerning multiple traumatisation is discussed.

Thesis advisor: Jacqueline V. Lerner / The current study examines the development of social skills in delinquent adolescents in the context of the care they receive in a residential treatment facility (RTF). Reviews of prevention and intervention programs for delinquency have provided support for parent training and child social skills training as the most promising approaches to treatment. However, for adolescents in an RTF, their primary parental figures have become the care workers with whom they are placed. Based on their caregiving behaviors, these workers could provide an environment that counteracts or exacerbates the effects of the residents' prior experiences. Therefore, three major factors that may influence the social skills outcomes of adjudicated youth will be examined: (1) the prior effect of family life, (2) the current effect of youth workers, and (3) the possible interaction between (1) and (2). Using a sample of 82 delinquent adolescents (aged 13-18 years old at entry) and 41 of their caregivers from a RTF, OLS regression models indicate that several factors at the individual level and in the treatment milieu are important to consider when addressing social skills development for delinquent youth. At the individual level, adolescents identified as early-onset delinquents entered treatment with lower social skills, but also experienced the greatest improvement in these skills while in treatment. In addition, older youth and youth from larger households entered treatment with higher levels of initial social skills on average. When considering the behaviors of care workers, two caregiving measures were surprisingly associated with positive social skills growth - caregiver psychological control and attributions of internality and controllability. The unexpected relationships between caregiving and positive development are discussed with an emphasis on the unique characteristics and context of the present sample. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

A dissertation submitted to the faculty of arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts (clinical psychology) / The present research study, located in the field of social psychology and attribution theory investigated variations in causal attributions of abused women in relation to reported severity, duration and frequency of the abuse. The study aimed to expand current attributional research to incorporate global/specific attributional dimensions of blame. Although theories of learned helplessness have been linked to global attributions of blame, this relationship has been under-researched in the area of women abuse. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / AC2017

Many studies have been devoted to investigating the process by which individuals make dispositional attributions about the people that they encounter. Typically, individuals are more likely to seek future interactions with target individuals if those target individuals have a positive or rewarding disposition. Interactions with target individuals possessing negative or punishing dispositions reduce the likelihood that target individual will be selected for future interactions. An initial false positive trait ascription will be self-correcting with future interactions. An initial false negative trait label will likely remain stable if future interactions are not forced. The importance of quick accurate disposition identification carries important evolutionary implications as well as normal-life implications. Results from an experiment support the ability of subjects to accurately identify the true trait of target individuals with limited dispositional information. / by Robert P. Shuhi. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Jusqu’à l’ordonnance du 23 mars 2006 relative aux sûretés, le créancier désireux de réaliser sa sûreté était tenu d’emprunter les procédures octroyées à tout créancier pour mettre en œuvre son droit de gage général. Les effets de la sûreté réelle ne se manifestaient qu’après la vente forcée du bien grevé, par le désintéressement préférentiel du créancier au cours de la procédure de distribution du prix. La réforme du droit des sûretés opérée en 2006 a modifié cette situation en généralisant l’attribution judiciaire et en légalisant l’attribution conventionnelle du bien grevé. Ces modes de réalisation sont réputés plus simples et rapides que les voies d’exécution traditionnelles, mais également plus efficaces pour écarter les créanciers concurrents. Le créancier titulaire d’une sûreté réelle est désormais avantagé dès l’exercice de ses prérogatives à l’encontre du débiteur défaillant. Pour exercer son pouvoir de contrainte, il bénéficie de voies d’exécution qui lui sont spécifiques. Le législateur a pris soin d’encadrer ces techniques d’attribution afin de protéger les intérêts du débiteur. Toutefois, le régime de ces modes de réalisation mérite d’être aménagé afin d’en améliorer la sécurité juridique, l’efficacité, et par conséquent, l’attractivité. Les effets des ces modes de réalisation à l’égard des créanciers concurrents de l’attributaire sont moins clairs. L’attribution est régulièrement présentée comme une technique garantissant au poursuivant un désintéressement exclusif, les prétentions des autres créanciers inscrits étant reléguées sur l’éventuel reliquat consigné. Quoique les autres créanciers ne puissent prendre part à la procédure, rien ne justifie qu’il soit porté atteinte à leurs droits. Il importe donc de déterminer comment concilier la faculté d’attribution du bien grevé avec les droits des créanciers concurrents. / Up until the order of 23 March 2006 on security rights, a creditor aiming at realizing his surety had to resort to the procedures of execution available to any creditor in order to implement his general right of pledge. The effects of the real surety would manifest only after the execution sale of the encumbered property, through the preferential satisfaction of the creditor during the proceedings of the price distribution. The 2006 reform of the law of security rights has altered this situation by generalizing the judicial attribution and by legalizing the conventional attribution of the encumbered property. These modes of realization are deemed to be simpler and faster than the traditional enforcement proceedings, but also more efficient to shut out the other competing secured creditors. From now on, the creditor benefiting from a real surety is favoured as soon as he exercises his rights against the defaulting debtor. In order to exercise his power of constraint, he may rely on all the enforcement proceedings that are specific to the real surety. The legislator has carefully provided guidelines to use these attribution techniques to protect the interests of the debtor. However, the legal framework applicable to these modes of realization deserves to be adjusted in order to improve their legal certainty, their efficiency, and therefore their attractiveness. The effects of these modes of realization against the competing secured creditors of the recipient are not completely clear. Attribution is often presented as a technique that ensures the plaintiff an exclusive satisfaction, while the competing creditors’ claims are redirected on a hypothetical consigned remainder. Although the other creditors cannot take part in the procedure, nothing justifies that their rights be undermined. It is therefore important to determine how to reconcile the optional attribution of the encumbered property and the rights of the competing secured creditors.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Nancy W. Muturi / Stigma towards mental illness is a problem that runs deep in most societies, causing difficulties for the people who are ill, the people related to them, and the community (Papadopoulos, Leavey, & Vincent, 2002). Stigma is one of the most crucial reasons for depressed people to avoid seeking help. Numerous interventions and campaigns for reducing public stigma have been implemented with limited effect on mental health stigma. Previous studies have focused on effectiveness of anti-stigma messages, how they are communicated and on the use of contact strategies to strengthen campaign influence (Jensen, 2017). This study examined how the key elements of the attribution theory— locus of causality, stability, and controllability – contribute to public emotional reaction and discrimination towards people with depression. Other vital variables included the level of perceived stigma, level of contact with stigmatized persons, six dimensions of stigma, communication channels, the access to depression-related resources and demographic factors. Data were gathered through an online survey that was distributed to a random sample recruited from M-Turk (N=533). Results showed negative associations between locus of causality and negative emotions (β = -.38, t = -9.47, p =.000), and discrimination (β = -.10, t = -2.41, p =.02), which means that the more participants believe the situation are responsible for the cause of depression, the more negative emotion and intention of discrimination they held. Among all information channels, Interpersonal Channel was the only significant predictor of discrimination (β = .21, t = 4.29, p =.000). Overall, this study shows that more empathy and more familiarity with depression do not lead to less discrimination. On the contrary, participants believed people with depression were easily controlled by the situation and did not put effort to change it.

No description available.

Yu, Chi Ching. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-58). / Abstracts in English and Chinese ; appendices also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Definition of CSR --- p.1 / Consequence of CSR --- p.2 / The effect of CSR on affective and cognitive components of consumer responses --- p.3 / The effect of CSR on behavioral component of consumer responses --- p.5 / Attribution as underlying mechanism --- p.8 / Effect of attribution on consumer responses --- p.10 / Mechanism for making attribution --- p.11 / Inter-relationships between dimensions --- p.15 / Other potential variables affecting consumer responses --- p.16 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Method --- p.18 / Participants --- p.18 / Scenario --- p.18 / Questionnaire --- p.19 / Measures --- p.20 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Result --- p.23 / Validity Check --- p.23 / Descriptive statistics --- p.23 / Dimensionality --- p.25 / Reliability --- p.30 / Model testing results --- p.30 / Hypothesis testing --- p.33 / Total amount of variance explained --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Discussion --- p.35 / Attribution as the underlying explanation of CSR effect --- p.35 / Mechanism of how consumers form attribution of CSR activities --- p.37 / Managerial implication of the present study --- p.40 / Limitation of the present study and further research direction --- p.42 / Appendix --- p.44 / Appendix 1: Questionnaire of pilot study 1 --- p.44 / Appendix 2: Questionnaire of pilot study 2 --- p.46 / Appendix 3: Result of pilot study 2 --- p.48 / Appendix 4: Measurement items --- p.49 / Reference --- p.55