Abstract: Two experiments were performed to examine the influence of liking on causal attributions of another person's behavior. In both experiments, observers who either liked or disliked an actor were asked to attribute the actor's behavior to personal or situational factors. In the first experiment, liking for a stranger was manipulated, and the behavior to be attributed was the stranger's performance on a task requiring skill; in the second experiment, observers provided attributions for the prosocial behavior of an actual acquaintance who was either liked or disliked. Both experiments supported the hypothesis that actions which are consistent with affect for the actor (good actions by liked actors, bad actions by disliked actors) are attributed internally, to characteristics of the actor, while actions inconsistent with affect for the actor are attributed externally, to situational factors. The implications of these results for processes of person perception, including the ascription of trait characteristics to others, were discussed.
Publication Year: 1974
Publication Date: 1974-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 174
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