The actor-observer bias in social psychology has been very well documented (Jones, 1976) and states that actors tend to attribute the causes of their behavior to situations while observers tend to attribute the causes of the actor's behavior to personal dispositions. An extension of this bias, termed perspective effects, has recently been demonstrated (Arkin, Gabrenya, & McGarvey, 1978; Regan & Totten, 1975) and indicates that the more similar the roles of the actor and observer, the more similar the observer's attributions will be to those of the actor. / The present study investigated two hypotheses related to perspective effects and causal attributions for behavior. First, it was predicted that inmates would make less internal attributions than prison staff about an offender since their social role is more similar than prison staff's to the offender's. Second, based on Batson's (1975) work it was predicted that causal attributions for criminal behavior would be related to recommended rehabilitative techniques. / A 2 x 2 x 3 factorial experiment was conducted with the factors of role (either inmate or prison staff), attributional condition (either internal-stable or external-unstable), and type of crime (either monetary, monetary involving violence, or violent). Sixty inmate volunteers and 42 institution staff volunteers at the Federal Correctional Institution (Tallahassee) were administered experimental questionnaires consisting of two crime scenarios and 22 Likert type scales. The scales measured crime specific perceptions (e.g., blame for the crime, likelihood of a subsequent crime being committed, internality of the cause of the crime, stability of the cause of the crime, belief in the crime description, intentionality, and seriousness of the crime), human nature perceptions (e.g., the goodness of human nature, the ability to change behavior by oneself or with the help of others), endorsements of rehabilitation programs (e.g., high school diploma program, vocational training, counseling, employment aid, financial subsidy, and religious services), and a decision about the locus of potential change for each program (e.g., either within the offender or within the offender's environment). Each participant rated two different crime scenarios on the 22 Likert items. / Results indicated some support for the hypothesized attributional differences between inmates and staff; staff indicated a greater degree of internality of the cause of the crime than did inmates for the monetary crime and the monetary crime involving violence. Staff also indicated a greater perceived stability over time for criminal behavior than did inmates for the same two crimes. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that causal attributions were related to recommended rehabilitative techniques; rather role and type of crime seemed to influence the program endorsements such that inmates recommended financial subsidies more strongly than did staff and financial subsidies were more often recommended for the monetary crime. The violent crime received the lowest rating for the vocational training program. When the cause of the crime was seen as highly stable, low inmate education level also seemed to strongly influence recommendations for the General Equivalency Diploma program. Failure to confirm the hypothesized relationship between attributions and rehabilitative recommendations may have resulted from the respondents' vast experience with programs in the institution, unlike Batson's (1975) participants who were generally more naive with respect to their client population and specific programs. Of particular interest, was the positive endorsement of the financial subsidies program by inmates but not by institution staff. This program description was based on the LIFE financial subsidy program (Lenihan, 1977) which has been demonstrated to be somewhat more successful than other programs in reducing recidivism. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: B, page: 3937. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74332 |
| Contributors | REDNER, ROBIN LINDA., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 82 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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