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Temporal perspective in actor-observer attribution

University of British Columbia

A laboratory experiment was conducted to explore the role of temporal perspective - predictive, immediately after experimental session, and delayed - upon causal attributions of actors and observers. The context in which these attributions were studied was a student/teacher interpersonal influence situation. It was proposed that, across conditions, actors would make greater situational attributions than would observers, and that actor-observer attributional differences would increase over time. Neither hypothesis was confirmed, with analyses revealing a trend in the opposite direction. Contrary to expectation, observers overall attributed greater responsibility to the situation than did actor/teachers. Rather than actor-observer attributional differences increasing over time, an identical pattern of attributions emerged with both actors and observers attributing least responsibility to the situation in the prediction condition, greater attribution to the situation in the delay condition, and greatest attribution to the situation immediately after the experimental session. Results were interpreted as reflections of the experimental methodology, informational factors (i.e., historical knowledge; perceptual salience), and motivational factors (i.e., need for effective control; empathy).

Text

2010-03-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21648

Psychology

University of British Columbia

Graduate