Article
When Values and Attributions Collide: Liberals’ and Conservatives’ Values Motivate Attributions for Alleged Misdeeds.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
(2010)
Abstract
Conservatives tend to make dispositional whereas liberals make situational attributions for social problems and alleged misconduct (the “ideo-attribution effect”). Three studies demonstrated a reversal of the ideo-attribution effect. Conservatives made stronger situational attributions than liberals for the behavior of Marines accused of killing Iraqi civilians (Studies 1 and 2) and police officers accused of wrongly killing a cougar running loose in a Chicago neighborhood (Study 3). Reversals of the ideo-attribution effect occurred because conservative values were more consistent with excusing the Marines’ and police officers’ behavior, whereas liberal values were more consistent with blaming the Marines and police officers. These results suggest that the ideo-attribution effect—and attributions more generally—are shaped by whether people’s attributional conclusions are consistent or inconsistent with their salient values.
Keywords
- Attributions,
- Values,
- Political Orientation,
- Motivated reasoning
Disciplines
Publication Date
September, 2010
DOI
10.1177/0146167210380605
Publisher Statement
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Citation Information
G. Scott Morgan, Linda J. Skitka and Elizabeth Mullen. "When Values and Attributions Collide: Liberals’ and Conservatives’ Values Motivate Attributions for Alleged Misdeeds." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Vol. 36 Iss. 9 (2010) p. 1241 - 1254 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/elizabeth-mullen/6/