Previous research (e.g., Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull, 1988) has proposed a stage model of attributional activity, by which perceivers first form dispositional attributions for a target's behavior and then, given sufficient cognitive resources, correct these attributions with more cognitively taxing situational attributions. Other research (e.g., Devine, 1989) has shown that low prejudiced perceivers make a conscious effort not to exhibit potentially prejudiced attitudes or discriminatory behavior. The logic of these two theories was combined in an experiment in which participants discussed aloud possible causes for an African-American target's stereotypic behavior. It was hypothesized that participants low in prejudice and under a low cognitive load, because they were both willing and able to invest their energy to the attribution task, would use more complex explanations and corrections of dispositional explanations in order to account for the target's behavior Participants read about a male African-American target who ostensibly reported enacting behaviors stereotypic for his group. Participants of high or low prejudice and under a low or a high cognitive load proposed aloud possible causes for the target's behavior. It was hypothesized that participants low in prejudice and under a low cognitive load, because they were both willing and able to invest their energy to the attribution task, would engage in more complex attributional activity. Specifically, it was predicted that low-prejudiced participants under low load, compared to high-prejudiced participants and low-prejudiced participants under a high load, would devote more of their discussion to situational explanations and complex 'narrative' explanations, and would show a propensity to correct initial dispositional explanations with situational ones Results partially supported hypotheses, particularly with respect to correction of initial dispositional explanations, indicating that both motivation and ability are necessary for perceivers to engage in the correction phase theorized in Gilbert's model. The advantages of a methodology allowing for spontaneous generation and discussion of attributions, thus providing on-line information about participants' attributional processes, and the implications for both attribution and prejudice research are discussed. Also, the relevance of the present findings to theories of attributional biases and cross-cultural investigations is considered / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_23149 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Contributors | Hammer, Elliott Dannatt (Author), Ruscher, Janet B (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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