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Internality, academic status and intergroup attributions
Abstract
Some pupils categorized as good vs. bad pupils were given a questionnaire of attributions, thus allowing the calculation of
internality scores. They were also requested to answer as would a good (vs. a bad) pupil do. Finally, they also had to predict
in which way a good (vs. a bad) pupil would answer on their behalf. The results were explained within the frame of two different
theoretical fields: the theory of the norm of internality and the biases in terms of intergroup attributions. These results
show that 1) the attribution of internal explanations relates to an attribution of value that takes place within the intergroup
evaluation, 2) whereas the ultimate attribution error can clearly be observed among the good pupils, the bad pupils exhibit
an attributive pattern that is favorable to the good pupils.
Des élèves caractérisés sur la base de leur dossier comme “bons” ou “mauvais” passaient un questionnaire d’attributions permettant
le calcul de scores d’internalité. Ils devaient également répondre comme le ferait un bon (ou un mauvais) élève. Ils devaient
enfin prédire la façon dont un bon (ou un mauvais) élève répondrait à leur place. Les résultats ont été interprétés dans le
cadre de deux champs théoriques différents: celui de la théorie de la norme d’internalité et celui des biais dans les attributions
intergroupes. Les résultats montrent, 1) que l’attribution d’explications internes correspond à une attribution de valeur
intervenant dans les évaluations intergroupes (norme d’internalité), 2) que si l’erreur ultime d’attribution est observée
chez les bons élèves, les mauvais élèves exhibent un pattern attributif favorable aux bons élèves.
... On compte quatre recherches publiées attestant de la valeur normative des explications internes dans un contexte intergroupe (Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu, & Abdelaoui, 1998 ;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996 ;Dubois, Beauvois, Gilibert, & Zentner, 2000 ;Pansu et al., 2005). L'hypothèse à l'origine de ces études était que si l'internalité permet de conférer de la valeur à celui qui en exprime, elle devrait être utilisée pour valoriser son groupe d'appartenance. ...
... Mise à l'épreuve dans le cadre du paradigme de l'identification, cette hypothèse a été vérifiée dans un contexte expérimental de groupes minimaux (Dubois et al., 2000) ainsi qu'avec des groupes réels. Plus spécifiquement, dans la première étude menée (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996) Ainsi, le biais de favoritisme endogroupe fonctionne à travers l'attribution d'internalité, mais il s'avère nuancé par les positions asymétriques des groupes en présence. Ceci ne remet aucunement en cause la valeur de l'internalité puisqu'on sait qu'il peut être observé, au sein des groupes dits dominés, un biais de favoritisme à l'égard de l'exogroupe dominant (Bettencourt, Dorr, Charlton, & Hume, 2001, pour une revue), ce qui va dans le sens des résultats obtenus par Dubois et Beauvois (1996). ...
... Plus spécifiquement, dans la première étude menée (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996) Ainsi, le biais de favoritisme endogroupe fonctionne à travers l'attribution d'internalité, mais il s'avère nuancé par les positions asymétriques des groupes en présence. Ceci ne remet aucunement en cause la valeur de l'internalité puisqu'on sait qu'il peut être observé, au sein des groupes dits dominés, un biais de favoritisme à l'égard de l'exogroupe dominant (Bettencourt, Dorr, Charlton, & Hume, 2001, pour une revue), ce qui va dans le sens des résultats obtenus par Dubois et Beauvois (1996). Le biais de favoritisme endogroupe à travers l'attribution d'internalité a été ensuite reproduit dans les expériences conduites par Beauvois et al., (1998 Au regard de ces résultats, nous nous sommes proposés d'étudier la valeur sociale de la préférence pour la consistance dans le cadre des relations intergroupes. ...
... One can broaden this approach by taking another aspect of evaluative activity into account, the normative dimension. This is exactly what the judgment norm researchers did (Beauvois et al., 1998; Dubois & Beauvois, 1996; Dubois, Beauvois, Gilibert, & Zentner, 1999) when they approached internality attribution from a new angle that simultaneously brought causal attributions and evaluative processes into the picture. I . ...
... In this view, positive attitudes toward targets in one's own group may simply be manifested by the attribution of more internality to those targets than to outgroup targets (hereafter called favoritism by attribution of internality). This was indeed one of the findings of the very first studies on this topic (see Beauvois et al., 1998; Dubois & Beauvois, 1996; Dubois, Beauvois, Gilibert, & Zentner, 2000), where we again find the identification paradigm, but this time situated in an intergroup relational setting. Subjects had to select causal explanations and say which ones would be chosen by ingroup and outgroup targets. ...
... In this type of managerial culture, the emphasis placed on membership in the superordinate category (the company) leaves room for employees to claim that members of their own job category are the best ones in the company. We can see, then, that the results obtained may depend upon the type of company and its in-house relations, such as the weight placed on the rank in the company hierarchy.Fig. 1. — Attribution of internality as a function of participant group and target membership in ordinary contexts (School: Dubois & Beauvois 1996; University and work: Beauvois et al., 1998) and experimental contexts (minimal group paradigms or MGP: Dubois et al., 2000, Studies 1 and 2). Attribution d'internalité selon le groupe d'appartenance des sujets et de la cible en contextes naturels (École : Dubois & Beauvois 1996 ; Université et entreprise : Beauvois et al., 1998) et en contexte de catégorisation minimale (minimal group paradigms or MGP: Dubois et al., 2000 , Studies 1 and 2). ...
The study reported here used the identification paradigm in an intergroup context. The participants were managers and their subordinates working in large department stores and supermarkets located in France. They had to predict the attributions of ingroup (vs outgrpup) members by choosing between internal and external explanations of desirable and undesirable events. As a whole, the results showed that: (1) predictions of overall internality prevailed, (2) managers and subordinates attributed as much internality to positive events as to negative ones when they had to predict the replies of ingroup members, (3) regardless of the desirability of the event in question, managers chose significantly more internal explanations when they had to predict the replies of ingroup members than of outgroup members, and (4) the opposite pattern was observed for the subordinates. More specifically, subordinates did not choose more internal explanations to predict the replies of ingroup members than of outgroup members when desirable events were at stake, whereas for undesirable events they chose more internal explanations for outgroup members than for ingroup ones. The results are discussed in relation to internality-norm theory, while taking into account the normative dimension of evaluative activity in intergroup relations.
... In a recent study by Dubois and Beauvois (1996), both of these value attribution modes were found to take eect in a situation where`good' and`poor' pupils had to ®ll out a causal attribution questionnaire (an internality questionnaire) after receiving dierent instructions. The pupils had to answer on their own behalf (standard instructions), and also had to attempt to predict what a good pupil and a poor pupil would answer (identi®cation instructions). ...
... First, we need to stress the fact that once again, the experiment took place in an academic context where the internality norm has probably been acquired and is likely to be ever-present in social judgments (see Dubois, 1994). Secondly and above all, remember that as in the Dubois and Beauvois (1996) study, the categorization process involved in this experiment was based on a pure value criterion. Granted, categorization into high school repeaters versus non-repeaters does not correspond at the university level to social worth categories with the same salience as the good versus poor pupil opposition in elementary school. ...
... The scienti®c literature on intergroup attributions has been largely limited to the study of the ingroup-serving bias, and in certain cases, of the outgroup-derogating bias. More recently, both in everyday situations and in experimental settings, situations involving asymmetrical relations of domination, in¯uence, or attested worth have been studied, and target-serving biases in favour of the outgroup have been predicted and observed (Ellemers, Doosje, & Van Knippenberg, 1992;Ellemers, Wilke, & Van Knippenberg, 1993;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). Although the data gathered is interesting, the study of intergroup attributions seems to lack a more general level of re¯ection on the evaluative process that underlies people's construction of social values. ...
In two studies, subjects ®lled out a questionnaire requiring them to choose between
internal and external explanations of desirable or undesirable events. They were also
asked to ®ll out the same questionnaire from another person's point of view, either a
member of the ingroup or a member of the outgroup. The ®rst study used students as
subjects and the events were about student life. The second study used employees for
subjects and the events were about the working world. As predicted on the basis of
internality norm theory, internal explanations were generally found to be chosen more
often when the respondent or imagined respondent was said to be a worthy person. The
internality scores were the highest for oneself and for the ingroup member, regardless of
the desirability of the events; they were the lowest for the outgroup member. These
internality attribution eects do not seem to stem from the well-known ingroup-favouring
attributions (ultimate attribution error). Hence, the internality norm construct,
irrespective of event desirability, provides a new pathway for exploring the evaluative
eects of intergroup relations.
... Ainsi, en 1994, Dubois ne recense que trois recherches utilisant ce paradigme. A ce jour, cinq recherches ont été publiées à ce sujet : Jellison et Green (1981), Dubois (1991b), Dubois & Beauvois (1996) Dubois (1987). ...
... Ainsi, nous avons généralement du mal à envisager que ce qui peut nous arriver de néfaste puisse dépendre de nous-mêmes (Kunda, 1987 (Dubois, Ferry et Frientz, 1992 ;Dubois & Schnür, 1993 ;Dubois & Boyer, 1992). Des données de même signification apparaissent dans le cadre du paradigme d'identification (Dubois et Beauvois, 1996). Ainsi, les "bons élèves" sont crédités de plus d'internalité mais aussi de plus d'autocomplaisance. ...
... Ainsi, Dubois et Beauvois (1996) ...
Sumary: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fhalshs.archives-ouvertes.fr%2Ftel-00589861%2F
Résumé : Nous sommes parti du constat que les théoriciens de la norme d'internalité (Beauvois & Dubois, 1988 ; Dubois, 1994) évoquaient, à propos de la valeur des explications internes, une valeur ancrée dans le fonctionnement social et dont l'efficacité n'est, pour l'essentiel, démontrée que dans des situations très normatives. Nous avons, pour notre part, voulu montrer que l'attribution d'internalité dépassait le cadre, important mais très circonscrit, de ces situations de forte normativité et qu'elle pouvait opérer quelquefois en fonction de critères plus affectifs ou attitudinels. Nous avons ainsi montré que les sujets estiment d'autant plus probable qu'une personne ait donné des explications internes plutôt qu'externes que son visage est esthétiquement attractif (Exp. 1). L'étude suivante (Exp. 2) mettait à contribution une procédure d'exposition suboptimale et non consciente permettant d'accroître incidemment la positivité des visages (Zajonc, 1968 ; 1980). Les sujets ont alors attribué plus d'internalité à des cibles lorsque la positivité de leurs visages était accrue par la procédure d'exposition suboptimale. Afin de contrecarrer une interprétation selon laquelle la technique de familiarisation utilisée amène le sujet à disposer de plus d'informations individualisantes concernant la cible, une autre expérience (Exp. 3) avait pour objectif d'accroître, par la familiarisation liée à un conditionnement, tant la positivité que la négativité des visages (Bayens, 1993). Les sujets attribuent alors plus d'internalité à une cible de valence neutre si cette valence est rendue positive (plutôt que négative) par le conditionnement. Ceci n'étant vrai que pour les explications d'événements indésirables. Cette attribution d'internalité est aussi observée dans le contexte de la valorisation du groupe d'appartenance, que ce groupe soit réel (Exp. 6) ou minimal (Exp. 8). Ainsi, les sujets mirent-ils à contribution l'attribution d'internalité pour exprimer un biais de favoritisme pro-endogroupe, et ce uniquement lorsqu'il leur était possible de différencier positivement, d'un exogroupe, un groupe dans lequel ils s'étaient autocatégorisés. La seconde de ces deux expériences utilise un contexte de catégorisation minimale et un paradigme de type "qui a dit quoi" (Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff et Ruderman, 1978). Dans celle-ci, les sujets exprimèrent à nouveau ce favoritisme pro-endogroupe par attribution d'internalité. Cette attribution d'internalité était corrélée avec une mesure purement évaluative du favoritisme pro-endogroupe. Ces cinq recherches montrent donc que l'attribution d'internalité se fait vers des cibles qui peuvent être davantage caractérisées par la positivité des affects qu'elles suscitent que par leur utilité dans un contexte social. Nous avons néanmoins été amené à constater que cette attribution d'internalité à des cibles positives n'allait pas toujours sans effet de la désirabilité des événements expliqués. Nous avons donc voulu approfondir cette interaction de la valence de la cible et de la désirabilité de l'événement en introduisant un nouveau principe de recherche destiné, non plus à tester les attributions d'explications (internes versus externes), mais à tester les attributions de stratégies d'autovalorisation suscitées par la désirabilité des événements. Nous avons ainsi pu observer que les sujets peuvent être amenés, dans leurs attributions d'internalité à des cibles positives et négatives, à faire une différence subtile entre ce que pense une cible et ce qu'elle dit en matière d'explications. Ainsi, créditent-ils effectivement de plus d'internalité une cible sympathique (versus antipathique, Exp. 4) ou une cible endogroupe (versus exogroupe, Exp. 7), et ce notamment lorsqu'il s'agit d'anticiper ce que ces cibles pensent. Mais les sujets prennent aussi en compte la désirabilité de l'événement expliqué pour attribuer à la cible valorisée le fait de devenir plus modeste dans ce qu'elle dit. A l'inverse la cible dévalorisée tendrait, selon eux, à devenir plus autocomplaisante. Ainsi, il semble que les sujets attribuent plus de valeur à une stratégie d'autoprésentation qu'à une autre et qu'ils se basent aussi sur ces stratégies pour exprimer un favoritisme pro-endogroupe. Enfin, dans la mesure où les explications internes se trouvaient plus souvent associées à des cibles de valence positive et les explications externes plus souvent associées à des cibles de valence négative, nous avons voulu savoir dans quelle mesure ces associations pouvaient avoir des effets sur le souvenir de ces cibles. Ainsi, (expérience 5), lorsqu'il est présenté des cibles énonçant des phrases contenant des explications internes (versus externes), les sujets sont-ils plus sévères dans leur décision de reconnaissance (ils disent moins facilement, à tort et/ou à raison, avoir déjà vu un visage). Il semble donc que l'internalité est bien un point d'ancrage dans la perception et la reconnaissance des personnes. Cet ensemble de recherches présente selon nous deux intérêts théoriques. Il conforte et élargit considérablement un énoncé de la théorie de la norme d'internalité qui avance que les explications internes sont porteuses de valeur. Nos résultats imposent néanmoins d'insister sur l'importance que peuvent avoir les stratégies d'autoprésentation et l'anticipation de ces stratégies d'autoprésentation par l'évaluateur.
... Researchers proposing the existence of a norm of internality have shown that people value internal attributions and evaluate individuals favorably who accept personal responsibility for their performance outcomes (Beauvois & Dubois, 1988;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). For example, Jellison and Green (1981) showed that people (a) expressed greater social approval of targets who attributed their behavior to internal rather than external sources, (b) described themselves as giving more internal attributions in comparison to average others, and (c) showed a stronger bias toward making internal attributions when they were instructed to make a positive rather than a negative impression. ...
... For example, Jellison and Green (1981) showed that people (a) expressed greater social approval of targets who attributed their behavior to internal rather than external sources, (b) described themselves as giving more internal attributions in comparison to average others, and (c) showed a stronger bias toward making internal attributions when they were instructed to make a positive rather than a negative impression. These research findings have been replicated (e.g., Beauvois & Dubois, 1988) and extended to intergroup contexts showing that in addition to claiming that they are more likely than others to make internal attributions, people also rate their in-group as more likely than an out-group to make internal attributions for behavior (Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu, & Abdelaoui, 1998;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). These latter results, in combination with research showing that people are more disapproving of in-group than out-group members who violate social expectations (Marques et al., 2001), lead to the prediction that people should be especially disapproving when in-group members blame discrimination and fail to accept responsibility for their failure. ...
... These results indicate that participants were more likely to regard targets as avoiding personal responsibility for outcomes when in-group rather than out-group members made discrimination attributions. Our findings support the proposition that people expect others, especially in-group members, to take personal responsibility for their outcomes (e.g., Beauvois et al., 1998;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996) and to follow valued social expectations (Marques et al., 2001), even when they believe that discrimination occurred. ...
The authors extend recent research concerning the social costs of claiming discrimination by examining men's and women's responses to in-group and out-group targets who either blamed a failing grade on discrimination or answer quality. Although participants generally responded more negatively to targets who blamed discrimination, rather than answer quality, dislike was greatest and gender group identification was lowest when participants evaluated an in-group target. Moreover, an in-group target who claimed discrimination was perceived as avoiding personal responsibility for outcomes to a greater extent than was a similar out-group target. Perceptions that the target avoided outcome responsibility by claiming discrimination were shown to mediate the relationship between attribution type and dislike of the in-group target. The authors discuss their results in terms of intragroup processes and suggest that social costs may especially accrue for in-group members when claiming discrimination has implications for the in-group's social identity.
... Namely, high-status group members almost systematically favor their own group and sometimes derogate the outgroup, whereas low-status group members often exhibit outgroup favoritism, i.e., favoring the high-status group (Brown, 1995, for review;Guimond, Dif, & Aupy, 2002). On this basis, authors (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Dubois, Beauvois, Gilibert, & Zentner, 2000;Pansu et al., 2005) have considered that, as people tend to attribute more positive judgments to their ingroup in equivalent intergroup relations, then a judgment systematically attributed to an ingroup should be considered socially valued. Similarly, as people tend to attribute more positive judgments to a high-status group in asymmetric intergroup relations, then a judgment systematically attributed to the high-status group should be considered socially valued. ...
... Similarly, as people tend to attribute more positive judgments to a high-status group in asymmetric intergroup relations, then a judgment systematically attributed to the high-status group should be considered socially valued. For example, as it is socially valued, internality is systematically attributed to the ingroup in studies activating equivalent intergroup relations (Dubois et al., 2000) and to the high statusgroup in studies based on asymmetric intergroup relations (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu, & Abdelaoui, 1998;Pansu et al., 2005). ...
The social valorization of Preference For Consistency (PFC) was examined via a minimal group paradigm activating either equivalent or asymmetric intergroup relations. After an aesthetic judgment task and assignment to one of two groups, participants (N = 298) completed the PFC scale according to three instructions: on their own behalf, as an ingroup member, or as an outgroup member (order counter-balanced). Results showed that in equivalent intergroup relations, participants attributed greater PFC to the ingroup and to the self than to the outgroup. In asymmetric intergroup relations, participants attributed greater PFC to the high-status group and to the self than to the low-status group, and this was independent of the participants' group membership. We discuss the contribution the minimal group paradigm can make to revealing the social valorization of psychological constructs and the mechanisms underlying the social value accorded to PFC.
http://www.rips-irsp.com/articles/10.5334/irsp.13/
... D'après les enseignants, le point de vue des mauvais élèves à la différence de celui des bons élèves, serait que les performances (bonnes ou mauvaises) sont imputables à des facteurs extérieurs ou incontrôlables par eux. Dans ces travaux basés sur un «paradigme d'identification », les sujets, les parents ou les enseignants, doivent envisager et rapporter le point de vue d'un bon et d'un mauvais élève (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu & Abdellaoui, 1998;Dubois, 2003). Dans ce domaine, comme dans d'autres domaines de la perception sociale, il apparaît que les personnes les moins valorisées socialement, ici les mauvais élèves, se voient attribuer les croyances externes qui sont peu valorisées socialement (que la valeur soit définie sur la base du statut professionnel, académique, scolaire ou de façon plus affective, Gilibert & Cambon, 2003 ;Pansu, Tarquinio & Gilibert, 2005). ...
... Du point de vue du système de relations entre soignant et patient, on peut s'interroger sur la façon dont les soignants réagissent face à des cas de patients prétendant n'avoir aucun contrôle sur l'évolution de leur maladie, notamment lorsqu'elle n'est pas particulièrement invalidante. Dans bien d'autres secteurs du travail, on sait par exemple que les employeurs, les enseignants ainsi que les travailleurs sociaux émettent des pronostics, des jugements ou prennent des décisions plus fréquemment défavorables vis à vis des personnes faisant état de croyances externes ou d'un faible sentiment de contrôle sur ce qui leur arrive (Desrumaux-Zagrodnicki & Masclet 2001, Louche, Pansu & Papet 2001Dubois, 2003 ;Pansu, 2006) (8). On peut ainsi se demander quel peut être l'impact de cette attitude sur la pratique soignante et la prise en charge (en termes de soutien émotionnel apporté ou non, de qualité de suivi, de choix du traitement médical ou de participation des patients à la décision thérapeutique). ...
This study examines the representation of the determining factors of patients' states of health in therapeutic care situations. We describe the average representation of experienced hospital nurses (n=44) and the differences which they consider to exist between their own and their patients' points of view. Taking as our starting point the purpose of the care provided and the asymmetry of the carer/patient relationship, we hypothesize, on the one hand, that nurses will have a representation of their patients' state of health which is based on the care to be provided, with the factors determining the state of health being necessarily perceived as having a general impact on patients' fives while still being remediable, i.e. capable of changing and being controlled by the provided care. On the other hand, we expect them to attribute a passive position and attitude to their patients, with the factors determining their state of health being necessarily perceived as being out of their own control. The results and the analysis of the representations reported as being those of the patients and their families seem to justify this perception and role of carer: the supposed representations of the latter would appear to be convergent but less focused on health problems and would tend to minimize the patient's involvement in particular when the state of health declines. The results are discussed with reference to the Health Belief Model and the social norm of internality as well as the professional practices observed in hospital environments.
... D'après les enseignants, le point de vue des mauvais élèves à la différence de celui des bons élèves, serait que les performances (bonnes ou mauvaises) sont imputables à des facteurs extérieurs ou incontrôlables par eux. Dans ces travaux basés sur un «paradigme d'identification », les sujets, les parents ou les enseignants, doivent envisager et rapporter le point de vue d'un bon et d'un mauvais élève (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu & Abdellaoui, 1998;Dubois, 2003). Dans ce domaine, comme dans d'autres domaines de la perception sociale, il apparaît que les personnes les moins valorisées socialement, ici les mauvais élèves, se voient attribuer les croyances externes qui sont peu valorisées socialement (que la valeur soit définie sur la base du statut professionnel, académique, scolaire ou de façon plus affective, Gilibert & Cambon, 2003 ;Pansu, Tarquinio & Gilibert, 2005). ...
... Du point de vue du système de relations entre soignant et patient, on peut s'interroger sur la façon dont les soignants réagissent face à des cas de patients prétendant n'avoir aucun contrôle sur l'évolution de leur maladie, notamment lorsqu'elle n'est pas particulièrement invalidante. Dans bien d'autres secteurs du travail, on sait par exemple que les employeurs, les enseignants ainsi que les travailleurs sociaux émettent des pronostics, des jugements ou prennent des décisions plus fréquemment défavorables vis à vis des personnes faisant état de croyances externes ou d'un faible sentiment de contrôle sur ce qui leur arrive (Desrumaux-Zagrodnicki & Masclet 2001, Louche, Pansu & Papet 2001Dubois, 2003 ;Pansu, 2006) (8). On peut ainsi se demander quel peut être l'impact de cette attitude sur la pratique soignante et la prise en charge (en termes de soutien émotionnel apporté ou non, de qualité de suivi, de choix du traitement médical ou de participation des patients à la décision thérapeutique). ...
This study examines the representation of the determining factors of patients' states of health in therapeutic care situations. We describe the average representation of experienced hospital nurses (n=44) and the differences which they consider to exist between their own and their patients' points of view. Taking as our starting point the purpose of the care provided and the asymmetry of the carer/patient relationship, we hypothesize, on the one hand, that nurses will have a representation of their patients' state of health which is based on the care to be provided, with the factors determining the state of health being necessarily perceived as having a general impact on patients' lives while still being remediable, i.e. capable of changing and being controlled by the provided care. On the other hand, we expect them to attribute a passive position and attitude to their patients, with the factors determining their state of health being necessarily perceived as being out of their own control. The results and the analysis of the representations reported as being those of the patients and their families seem to justify this perception and role of carer: the supposed representations of the latter would appear to be convergent but less focused on health problems and would tend to minimize the patient's involvement, in particular when the state of health declines. The results are discussed with reference to the Health Belief Model and the social norm of internality as well as the professional
practices observed in hospital environments.
Cette étude porte sur la représentation des déterminants de l’état de santé lors de prises en charges thérapeutiques. Nous décrivons ici la représentation d’infirmiers hospitaliers expérimentés (n=44) et les différences de points de vue qu’ils envisagent avec leurs usagers. En se basant sur la finalité du soin et l’asymétrique existante dans la relation soignant-soigné, nous faisons d’une part l’hypothèse que ces infirmiers exhiberont une représentation de l’état de santé centrée sur le soin à apporter : les déterminants de l’état de santé devant être perçus comme ayant un impact général sur la vie des patients tout en étant remédiables, c’est à dire susceptibles d’évoluer et contrôlables par l’aide apportée. D’autre part, on peut s’attendre à ce qu’ils attribuent au patient une position et une attitude passive : les déterminants de son état de santé devant être perçus comme incontrôlables par lui. Les résultats et l’analyse des représentations qu’ils rapportent comme étant celles du patient et de sa famille semblent justifier la perception et le rôle soignant : les représentations supposées de ces derniers seraient convergentes mais moins centrées sur le problème de santé et minimiseraient l’implication du patient, notamment en cas d’évolution défavorable. Ils sont discutés au regard du Health Belief Model et de la norme sociale d’internalité, ainsi que des pratiques professionnelles en
milieu hospitalier.
... Si les normes prescriptives vont venir indiquer dans quelle mesure on devrait émettre un comportement ou un jugement dans un certain idéal, les normes descriptives vont venir indiquer dans quelle mesure la majorité des gens effectuent concrètement cette conduite. Autrement dit, les normes prescriptives vont venir évoquer un idéal conditionnel de conduite tandis que les normes descriptives vont venir évoquer l'existence réelle de cet idéal de conduite (Dubois, 2003 (Dubois & Le Poultier, 1991 ;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). Ce type de paradigme permet typiquement de rendre compte de la façon dont un individu va répondre au questionnaire en son nom propre afin de donner une image positive de lui-même en adéquation avec les normes environnantes. ...
La plupart des discours scolaires insistent davantage sur l’importance de faire des efforts par rapport au fait d’être compétent pour réussir. Nous nous sommes intéressés à la façon dont les enseignants évaluent l’effort et la compétence en milieu scolaire, afin de voir si l’effort permet de réussir. Pour cela, nous nous sommes ancrés dans le modèle de jugement de l’utilité (réussite scolaire) et de la désirabilité sociale (appréciation scolaire), en étudiant l’effort en tant que norme et comportement scolaire. Selon nos hypothèses, l’effort, contrairement à la compétence, aurait une faible valeur d’utilité sociale, tandis qu’il aurait une forte valeur de désirabilité sociale. De plus, l’adhésion à l’idéologie méritocratique modèrerait ces jugements. Nos résultats ont montré que l’effort a une forte valeur en termes de désirabilité sociale, et une valeur assez instable en termes d’utilité sociale, contrairement à la compétence. Par ailleurs, nos résultats ont montré que pour les personnes adhérant à l’idéologie méritocratique, l’effort ne serait pas un moyen de réussir, mais permettrait d’acquérir des compétences pour réussir.
... Toutefois, la conception du contrôle interne en tant que trait de personnalité est contestée par un courant classique de la recherche française en psychologie sociale 9/110 (pour plus de détails, voir : Finkelstein, 2005). Pour les auteurs de ce courant (Dubois, 1994 ;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996), l'internalité est conçue comme une norme « socialement désirable » soumise à certains apprentissages dont les personnes dotées d'un statut élevé seraient les principales bénéficiaires. Un objectif complémentaire de la présente recherche consiste à tester la consistance de ces deux conceptions en analysant les liens entre l'internalité et certaines de nos variables démographiques. ...
... After choosing their own causal explanations, the subjects have to choose those of other persons who are assumed to be valued to different extents. The results obtained with this paradigm show that subjects often apply the intemality strategy to describe persons or groups that carry value (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Pansu, Tarquinio, & Gilibert, 2005). In the judge paradigm, subjects must judge persons who are known by their explanation strategy: intemality, externality, self-serving or modesty. ...
This article proposes a model that integrates some of the determinants of scholastic judgment. The model is based on the assumption that a teacher's judgment in a particular discipline is influenced by different variables: the pupil's actual performance in the discipline, his/her actual performance in other disciplines (halo effect), the average performance of the class in the discipline (class context effect), the pupil's individual characteristics such as whether he/she has ever repeated a grade and the teacher's perception of the pupils' causal explanations. Furthermore, the model proposes that a teacher's perceptions are related to the pupil's spontaneous expression of causality, which in turn is influenced by the pupil's knowledge of the social value of causal explanations. In order to test the validity of the proposed model, the authors conducted a study in a real classroom setting on a population of 663 pupils from 38 classes (3rd grade) and their respective teachers. Path analyses showed that the theoretical model fit the data to a satisfactory extent. However, a comparison of the fit indexes of the theoretical model and two alternative models (one nonhierarchical and one hierarchical) showed that the initial theoretical model could be significantly improved by additional paths.
... Ainsi, si dans le cadre d'une condition de présentation de soi positive, le sujet favorise une image sociale désirable, nous pouvons supposer qu'il adoptera la même stratégie dans une condition de présentation de soi face à son endogroupe, ainsi que face à un potentiel exogroupe. Ce processus de favoritisme pro-endogroupe, lié à la valeur sociale associée aux jugements normatifs, a particulièrement été étudié dans le domaine de la norme d'internalité (Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu, & Abdelaoui, 1998 ;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996 ;Dubois, Beauvois, Gilibert, & Zentner, 2000 ;Pansu et al. 2005). L'hypothèse principale de ces différentes recherches est que, si le sujet fait référence à la norme d'internalité pour s'attribuer une valeur positive, alors il adoptera la même stratégie pour valoriser son groupe d'appartenance, aussi bien au sein de son endogroupe que face à un exogroupe. ...
Social values of central core elements : the representational norm of centrality
At the intersection of social identity theory and the structural approach to social representations, this study focuses on social desirability in relation to the role played by central elements in maintaining a group’s social identity. We hypothesized that when an individual attempts to ingratiate him/herself with ingroup or outgroup members, he/she activates more central elements of the social representation. More specifically, central elements could allow the presentation of positive social identity, whereas counter-central elements would have the opposite effect. An experimental study validated this hypothesis and supports the existence of a representational norm of centrality.
... For example, Jellison and Green (1981) showed that people (a) expressed greater social approval of targets who attributed their behavior to internal rather than external sources, (b) described themselves as giving more internal attributions in comparison to average others , and (c) showed a stronger bias toward making internal attributions when they were instructed to make a positive rather than a negative impression. These research findings have been replicated (e.g., Beauvois & Dubois, 1988) and extended to intergroup contexts showing that in addition to claiming that they are more likely than others to make internal attributions, people also rate their in-group as more likely than an out-group to make internal attributions for behavior (Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu, & Abdelaoui, 1998; Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). These latter results, in combination with research showing that people are more disapproving of in-group than out-group members who violate social expectations (Marques et al., 2001), lead to the prediction that people should be especially disapproving when in-group members blame discrimination and fail to accept responsibility for their failure. ...
The authors extend recent research concerning the social costs of claiming discrimination by examining men's and women's responses to in-group and out-group targets who either blamed a failing grade on discrimination or answer quality. Although participants generally responded more negatively to targets who blamed discrimination, rather than answer quality, dislike was greatest and gender group identification was lowest when participants evaluated an in-group target. Moreover, an in-group target who claimed discrimination was perceived as avoiding personal responsibility for outcomes to a greater extent than was a similar out-group target. Perceptions that the target avoided outcome responsibility by claiming discrimination were shown to mediate the relationship between attribution type and dislike of the in-group target. The authors discuss their results in terms of intragroup processes and suggest that social costs may especially accrue for in-group members when claiming discrimination has implications for the in-group's social identity.
... Dubois, 1991), ou un individu dont on a spécifié l'appartenance groupale (e.g. Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). ...
The research on the norm of internality (Beauvois & Dubois, 1988) showed that the expression of internal causal explanations is socially valued in social judgment. However, the valorization of the different types of internal explanations is far to be homogeneous. We support the idea that internality refers to both of locus of causality and level of control that person has to do on the origin of the events. The aim of this Ph.D thesis would be to defend the idea by which the role of the locus of causality and the personal control dimensions in the social utility attributed to causal explanations. Three series of research have been conducted. The aim of the first set was to investigate the factors underlying the social value attributed to different types of causal explanation using the causal dimensions (Weiner, 1979). The impact of these causal dimensions was examined in terms of their experimental manipulation (study 1 & 2), and also in terms of the perception of these manipulations (study 2). The aim of the second set was to clarify the influence of the locus of causality and personal control dimensions on the attribution of social value (study 3, 4, 5). In order to confirm the importance of level of personal control in the attribution of social value utility, relation between the norm of internality and implicit theories of intelligence researches were suggested in the third set (study 6.a, 6.b, 6.c). Globally, results support the normative approach of internality: people who used internal explanation were the most valued compare to people who used external explanations. In addition, results support the hypothesis that locus of causality and personal control influence the attribution of social utility
... In addition, people who endorse negative in-group stereotypes for their own benefit are likely to be viewed negatively by others. In general, people unfavorably evaluate those who make excuses and favorably evaluate individuals who accept personal responsibility for their performance outcomes (Beauvois & Dubois, 1988;Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Hirt, McCrea, & Boris, 2003). In this regard, when people use the strategy of endorsing negative in-group stereotypes, they may be viewed as selfdefeating and disloyal. ...
This research proposes a self-handicapping process in which people proactively endorse negative in-group stereotypes when there is the prospect of failure in a task. In Experiment 1, we found that women were more likely to endorse the math-gender stereotype stigmatizing their gender group when they anticipated a difficult versus easy math task. In Experiment 2, the same pattern was observed among men stigmatized with relatively poor verbal skills. In Experiment 3, we found that such a self-handicapping tendency was most prominent among individuals with high trait self-esteem, who are presumably more motivated to maintain self-esteem versus those with low trait self-esteem. All together, these results suggest that endorsing negative in-group stereotypes can be used as an anticipatory coping mechanism, occurring even before receiving failure feedback in the presence of a high risk of failure.
... Results obtained in studies using this paradigm confirm this hypothesis: the highest level of intemality was attributed to the best pupil or the best student (Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu, & Abelhaoui, 1998; Dubois & Beauvois, 1996). ...
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the socionormative approach of internality in the field of education, and more specifically regarding scholastic judgment. It describes the theoretical development and the main procedures used by researchers to show that internal causal explanations have more value than external ones because they are normative and convey social value. We present results that show that the preference for internal explanations is learned in school. We also demonstrate that internal explanations are often chosen for selfpresentation purposes and have some bearing in evaluative practices (here, scholastic judgment). We also present results which show that certain internal explanations of school events, regardless of their valence (success or failure), enhance the social worth of the pupil producing them. This applies to effort-based explanations which are more highly valued than others (e.g., in terms of personological traits such as aptitudes or abilities). Such results lead us to discuss the role played by internal explanations in the evaluation practices. We underline the relevant aspect of the socionormative theory of internality by comparison to another sociocognitive approach namely Weiner's attributional theory of motivation.
... D'après les enseignants, le point de vue des mauvais élèves à la différence de celui des bons élèves, serait que les performances (bonnes ou mauvaises) sont imputables à des facteurs extérieurs ou incontrôlables par eux. Dans ces travaux basés sur un «paradigme d'identification », les sujets, les parents ou les enseignants, doivent envisager et rapporter le point de vue d'un bon et d'un mauvais élève (Dubois & Beauvois, 1996;Beauvois, Gilibert, Pansu & Abdellaoui, 1998;Dubois, 2003). Dans ce domaine, comme dans d'autres domaines de la perception sociale, il apparaît que les personnes les moins valorisées socialement, ici les mauvais élèves, se voient attribuer les croyances externes qui sont peu valorisées socialement (que la valeur soit définie sur la base du statut professionnel, académique, scolaire ou de façon plus affective, Gilibert & Cambon, 2003 ;Pansu, Tarquinio & Gilibert, 2005). ...
This study examines the representation of the determining factors of patients' states of health in therapeutic care situations. We describe the average representation of experienced hospital nurses (n=44) and the differences which they consider to exist between their own and their patients' points of view. Taking as our starting point the purpose of the care provided and the asymmetry of the carer/patient relationship, we hypothesize, on the one hand, that nurses will have a representation of their patients' state of health which is based on the care to be provided, with the factors determining the state of health being necessarily perceived as having a general impact on patients' lives while still being remediable, i.e. capable of changing and being controlled by the provided care. On the other hand, we expect them to attribute a passive position and attitude to their patients, with the factors determining their state of health being necessarily perceived as being out of their own control. The results and the analysis of the representations reported as being those of the patients and their families seem to justify this perception and role of carer: the supposed representations of the latter would appear to be convergent but less focused on health problems and would tend to minimize the patient's involvement, in particular when the state of health declines. The results are discussed with reference to the Health Belief Model and the social norm of internality as well as the professional practices observed in hospital environments.
The expression of personal belief in a just world (PBJW) has been discussed as a criterion of excellence in social judgments. In four experimental studies we hypothesized and found that targets who express high versus low PBJW are judged as more: 1) deserving of success and 2) suited to socio‐organizational expectations. The four studies show that suitability to socio‐organizational expectations mediates the relation between PBJW expressed and success deservingness, even after controlling for judgments of likability, status, rationality, optimism and targets as victims. Studies 2 and 3 show this pattern occurs regardless of target performance appraisal. Study 4 indicates that expressing low PBJW decreases the social value of individuals, but expressing high PBJW does not increase it. We discuss the impact of PBJW expression on people's lives, namely on upper social mobility of members of low‐status groups, and the influence of the negativity bias on judgments caused by PBJW expression.
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The 2012 contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney included fierce dialogue about women and issues typically connected to them. The inflammatory comments that conservative radio-show host Rush Limbaugh made about female law student Sandra Fluke and the Affordable Health Care Act's (ACA) requirements that all workplaces cover contraceptives were central topics in the news. The controversy literally followed Romney in the form of “Pillamina,” a human-sized costume designed to look like a pack of birth control pills that shadowed the candidate's summer swing state tour. While “Pillamina” was the work of Planned Parenthood's Action Fund, the Obama campaign also took aim at Romney on this issue, running a television commercial featuring “Dawn and Alex,” two women talking about how out of touch Romney is with women's health issues. The Romney campaign's attempts to counter these attacks and shift the focus of conversation were largely thwarted, as questionable comments from Republican Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock brought the issue of abortion to the forefront. Both of these statements added fuel to the narrative that Republicans are out of touch with women's needs. And Romney himself contributed to the problem, as his notorious “binders full of women” debate response broadened the scope of the issue from reproductive rights to more general issues about gender equality. Altogether, these Republican comments and positions opened the door for Democrats on the campaign trail to attack the party, and a popular conclusion is that this “War on Women” narrative hurt the Republican Party and played an integral part in Obama's victory.
The present research aims at exploring the social value of preference for consistency (PFC) in intergroup relations. In a first study (identification paradigm, JV= 103), participants (students from University versus IUT - Institute of Technology) filled out the PFC scale on their own behalf, as an ingroup member and as an outgroup member (order counter-balanced). In the second study (judge paradigm, N = 219), participants were exposed to a high, low or moderate PFC target. First, they had to identify target's group membership and then to attribute personality traits referring to social desirability and social utility dimensions to the target. Results show both an ingroup bias (IUT students) and an outgroup favoritism (University students) through attribution of consistency (Studies 1 and 2). Results also show that participants make more favorable judgments towards a high PFC target than towards a low or moderate PFC target, but solely on the social utility dimension (Study 2). Results are discussed in term of status primed with intergroup relationships and consistency attribution.
Gilibert, D. & Cambon, L. (2003). Paradigms of the sociocognitive approach. In N., Dubois (Ed.), A sociocognitive approach to social norms, (pp 38-69), London: Routledge
French translation
Normative approach of the intrinsic motivation in an intergroup situation with asymetry of statute
In education and organisation, motivation constitutes a factor permitting to predict the performance. From research paradigms developped in intrinsic motivation theory, recent researches reveal that exists a social valorisation of a kind of motivation, the intrinsic motivation. The aim of this research is to check whether this normativity occurs concerning intergroups relations by using a higher attribution of intrinsic motivation for ingroup than for exogroup. The outgroup valorisation would occur by beeing attributed to normativ judgments. This phenomenon will be stonger in dominant groups than in dominated groups. A study realized in a flight company among 120 employees (60 managers and 60 subordinates) check those assumptions and reinforces the normativ approach of motivation.
In the present paper, we suggest to extend the scope of research regarding the social norm of internality to a context rarely explored within this topic : competitive sports. Based on an experimental situation that recalls a situation of selection, we study the effect of attributional discourse on evaluations made by football coaches. Results show that, at equal level of competence, players with an internal discourse benefit from more positive prognosis and judgments than external players. Hence, it seems that the concept of a social norm of internality is relevant, over and above the academic and professional life spheres, in a sports context. The logics of evaluation at work in football (high and low level) are discussed. Drawing on some limitations of the current study, directions for future research are proposed.
Since the 1970s, it has been agreed that ‘internal’ people, who explain what happens to them by internal explanations (their behaviors, their aptitudes, their efforts, their personality, etc.) were more likely to succeed than ‘external’ people, who explain the same outcomes by external explanations such as chance, situational difficulties, the power of others, or fate. The social superiority of internal people is explained in terms of their personality (locus of control). Looking further into the intuitions of American researchers, a French school of thought attempted to show that internal explanations are socially valued. It was suggested that there exists a social judgment norm that could be called the norm of internality and that, perhaps, the success of ‘internal’ people was more specifically due to the fact that social appraisers, whether in school, in organizations, in the courts of justice, prefer this type of person because such people adhere more easily to current social ways of functioning.
Social control is the generic term used to refer to reactions to counter-normative behaviors and to informal social sanctions that can be attributed to deviant individuals. This review of theories and experimental findings addresses the determinants of social control reactions. First, we examine researches in experimental social psychology that show how people's reactions can be inhibited by the presence of others; a phenomenon known as the ‘Bystander effect’. Next, we examine the extent to which group membership factors affect social control. According to the ‘Black Sheep effect’, people are more severe with a deviant when they share their social identity than when he is a member of an out-group. Even though these processes appear as good predictors for social control reactions, other findings highlight that social control and the previous processes could be associated to self-related motivations that are encouraging people to defend themselves through the protection of their group's norms.
Quatre études, réalisées en entreprise, portent sur la valeur des explications internes et externes relatives à des événements professionnels. Les résultats de la première étude montrent que les managers choisissent préférentiellement des explications internes lorsqu’on leur demande de donner une image favorable d’eux‐mêmes (vs une image défavorable). Dans les trois études suivantes on observe que les managers jugent plus favorablement un candidat lorsque celui‐ci est connu pour avoir produit des explications internes (vs externes). De plus, des différences de valeur sont observées au sein des registres explicatifs internes et externes. Les explications internes en termes d’efforts comportementaux apparaissent les plus valorisées pour rendre compte des réussites et échecs professionnels. Ces résultats sont discutés en regard de la norme sociale d’internalité et des pratiques d’évaluation.
Four studies investigated the value granted to internal versus external causal attributions of events in the workplace. The results showed that (a) managers provided more internal explanations when they were asked to present a favorable self‐image, and (b) managers favored targets (job applicants) who had expressed internal rather than external explanations. The results also showed that not all internal explanations are valued equally: “efforts” are preferred over “traits” in explanations of job outcomes. The results are discussed in terms of a norm that regulates social judgments: the norm of internality.
One explanation for the widening achievement gap in America and throughout Europe between ethnic minorities/immigrants, and Whites is the influence of cultural stereotypes on attributions made by both educators and students. This paper explores some factors that increase the likelihood that educators will consciously or unconsciously rely on stereotypes to disambiguate attributional judgments of students. Specifically, the fundamental drive to make attributions in educational settings combine with a norm and pressure for internality judgments in achievement- related domains. These pressures place an extra burden on educators to look for internal causes for student achievement. When that pressure is combined with cognitive overload, motivational barriers, status and hierarchy disparities, and students ' more salient group membership, stereotypes emerge as likely candidates for attributions. The psychological and motivational consequences of attributional stereotypes are discussed in terms of their effects on both educators and students as a function of the distinct attributional patterns implied by stereotypes.
Research on the belief in a just world (BJW) has focused on its intra-individual functions (e.g., psychological well-being) and its inter-individual consequences (e.g., derogation of victims). Recent theorizing, however, has indicated that the BJW may also have more societal functions and consequences, serving as a legitimizing device of the status quo. The studies in the current paper focus on this latter view and are based on Alves and Correia's ( 2008 ) research which found that the expression of high personal and general belief in a just world is injunctively normative. Two experimental studies aimed at ascertaining three issues: (1) the dimension(s) of social value (social utility and/or social desirability) on which the BJW normativity anchors; (2) whether the expression of moderate BJW is also injunctively normative; and (3) whether the injunctive normativity of the BJW is related to perceptions of truth. Results indicate that moderate and high personal and general BJW are normative. Yet, whereas the normativity of personal BJW anchors both on social utility and social desirability, that of general BJW anchors only on social utility. We discuss personal and general BJW as judgement norms, whose normativity may not be personally acknowledged (in the case of general BJW) and does not necessarily derive from being perceived as true, but from the fact that such norms carry social value at least in individualistic societies.
The aim of this paper was to test the hypothesis that the norm of internality plays a role in evaluation practices at the work place. Human subjects: 80 normal male and female adults (aged 18–60 yrs) (employees of a French company) (Exp I). 66 normal male and female adults (aged 18–60 yrs) (employees of 3 French companies) (Exp II). 128 normal male and female adults (aged 18–60 yrs) (employees of French companies who had more than 10 yrs of professional experience) (Exp III). In all 3 experiments, Ss were asked to evaluate the aptitude of fictitious employees. In Exps I and II, Ss evaluated 3 employees whose descriptions indicated internal, external, and mixed characteristics, respectively. In Exp II, Ss evaluated 2 employees, one with an internal "profil" and one with an external "profil". In all 3 experiments, half of the fictitious employees were male and half were female. Taken together, these results supported the role of the norm of internality in evaluation practices: the employees known to produce systematically internal explanations were judged more positively than other. However, external profils did not seem really stigmatized here since the evaluators prefered an external profil than an mixed profil.
Allport's The Nature of Prejudice is a social psychological classic. Its delineation of the components and principles of prejudice remains modern, especially its handling of cognitive factors. The volume's cognitive contentions are outlined, and then extended with an application from attribution theory. An "ultimate attribution error" is proposed: (1) when prejudiced peonle perceive what they regard as a negative act by an outgroup member, they will more than others attribute it dispositionally, often as genetically determined, in comparison to the same act by an ingroup member: (2) wlhen prejudiced people perceive what they regard as a positive act by an outaroup member, they will more than others attribute it in comparison to the same act by an ingroup member to one or more of the following: (a) "the exceptional case," (b) luck or special advantage, (c) hig,h motivation and effort, and (d) manipulable situational context. Predictions are advanced as to which of these responses will be adopted and under which conditions the phenomenon will be magnified.
Tested D. M. Taylor and V. Jaggi's (see record
1975-05049-001) hypothesis of ethnocentric attribution, which states that group members make internal attributions for the positive behavior of other ingroup members and external attributions for their negative behavior, while the reverse holds true for attributions to outgroup members. In Exp I, 34 Malay and 34 Chinese male Malaysan university students were asked to ascribe to internal or external causes the behavior of ingroup and outgroup members performing socially desirable or undesirable acts. The hypothesis was supported only for the Malays, whereas the Chinese favored the outgroup. These results were consistent with a limited analysis of auto- and heterostereotypes. Exp II, with 60 Singaporean male university students, revealed ingroup favoritism for the Malays once again, although the Chinese no longer favored the outgroup. These less extreme results mapped onto the stereotypes and mirrored the more multicultural environment in Singapore. Differences between the studies are discussed in terms of wider sociostructural and cultural influences that indicate that ethnocentric attribution is not a universal tendency. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the relationship between affect and self-attributions following positive (P) and negative (N) behavioral outcomes. In the presence (high publicity) or absence (low publicity) of observers, 63 college students delivered therapeutic instructions that were expected to have a P or N effect and that resulted in a P or N effect on a supposedly phobic patient. Principal findings were that (a) Ss made greater attributions to self for P than for N outcomes; (b) both during and following performance, P outcome Ss reported more P and less N affect than did N outcome Ss; (c) both during and following performance, P outcome Ss reported greater feelings of egotism than did N outcome Ss; and (d) under N outcome conditions, high publicity Ss made lower self-attributions and subsequently also reported greater feelings of egotism than did low publicity Ss. The results support the notion that the observed P–N outcome differences in self-attributions reflect motivational biases in the causal inference process. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Three studies assessed the validity of the assumption of a general norm placing greater value on internal explanations for behavior than on external explanations (determined by Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale). Study 1 with 117 undergraduates demonstrated that Ss who expressed internal causal attributions received more social approval than those who expressed external ones. Study 2, in which 18 Ss rated themselves as giving more internal explanations for events than average others do, also demonstrated the greater positive value associated with internal attributions. In Study 3, 25 Ss given the injunction to create a positive impression described themselves as having a stronger bias toward internal attributions than did 24 Ss given the injunction to create a negative impression. The implications of the norm for internality are discussed and outlined for the actor–observer effect and for social psychological theories. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A review of the evidence for and against the proposition that self-serving biases affect attributions of causality indicates that there is little empirical support for the proposition in its most general form. Some support was found for the contention that individuals engage in self-enhancing attributions under conditions of success, but only minimal evidence suggested that individuals engage in self-protective attributions under conditions of failure. Moreover, it was proposed that the self-enhancing effect may not be due to motivational distortion, but rather to the tendency of people to (a) expect their behavior to produce success, (b) discern a closer covariation between behavior and outcomes in the case of increasing success than in the case of constant failure, and (c) misconstrue the meaning of contingency. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested 128 undergraduates in like-sex pairs with 5 practice and 15 test anagrams varied in difficulty so that 1/2 the Ss would do well and 1/2 poorly. Pretest confidence ratings and posttest attributions of performance to ability or luck, recall measures, and satisfaction ratings for self and other were analyzed. Results indicate that (a) Ss were more confident of other's success than their own, (b) the unexpected outcome was more often attributed to luck, (c) other's success was more often attributed to ability and failure to bad luck than self's own success or failure, (d) a positivity bias in recall favored the other, (e) contrast effects occurred for satisfaction ratings, and (f) task performance was a dominant factor influencing confidence and satisfaction ratings. Results are discussed in terms of models involving F. Heider's principle of balance and his analysis of the causes of action, in terms of positivity biases in social perception, and as indicating effects of the social context of performance upon attribution and valence. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Instructed 55 male and 75 female undergraduates to evaluate the performance of either a male or female stimulus person who was heard to perform in an above-average manner on either a male- or female-related task. Analysis of the attributions made to luck vs skill in explaining the performance of the stimulus person showed that as predicted, performance by a male on a masculine task was more often attributed to skill, whereas an equivalent performance by a female on the same task was considered to be more influenced by luck. Contrary to prediction, the reverse did not hold true for performance on a feminine task. Overall, males were seen as more skillful than females. The utility of an attributional analysis in the study of perceived sex differences is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study is one of a series exploring the role of social categorization in intergroup behaviour. It has been found in our previous studies that in ‚minimal' situations, in which the subjects were categorized into groups on the basis of visual judgments they had made or of their esthetic preferences, they clearly discriminated against members of an outgroup although this gave them no personal advantage. However, in these previous studies division into groups was still made on the basis of certain criteria of ‚real' similarity between subjects who were assigned to the same category. Therefore, the present study established social categories on an explicitly random basis without any reference to any such real similarity.
It was found that, as soon as the notion of ‚group' was introduced into the situation, the subjects still discriminated against those assigned to another random category. This discrimination was considerably more marked than the one based on a division of subjects in terms of interindividual similarities in which the notion of ‚group' was never explicitly introduced. In addition, it was found that fairness was also a determinant of the subjects' decisions.
The results are discussed from the point of view of their relevance to a social‐cognitive theory of intergroup behaviour.
The aim of the studies was to assess the effefcs of social categorization on intergroup behaviour when, in the intergroup situation, neither calculations of individual interest nor previously existing attitudes of hostility could have been said to have determined discriminative behaviour against an outgroup. These conditions were satisfied in the experimental design. In the first series of experiments, it was found that the subjects favoured their own group in the distribution of real rewards and penalities in a situation in which nothing but the variable of fairly irrelevant classification distinguished between the ingroup and the outgroup. In the second series of experiments it was found that: 1) maximum joint profit independent of group membership did not affect significantly the manner in which the subjects divided real pecuniary rewards; 2) maximum profit for own group did affect the distribution of rewards; 3) the clearest effect on the distribution of rewards was due to the subjects' attempt to achieve a maximum difference between the ingroup and the outgroup even at the price of sacrificing other ‘objective’ advantages.
The design and the results of the study are theoretically discussed within the framework of social norms and expectations and particularly in relation to a ‘generic’ norm of outgroup behaviour prevalent in some societies.
Organizational Identity presents the classic works on organizational identity alongside more current thinking on the issues. Ranging from theoretical contributions to empirical studies, the readings in this volume address the key issues of organizational identity, and show how these issues have developed through contributions from such diverse fields of study as sociology, psychology, management studies and cultural studies. The readings examine questions such as how organizations understand who they are, why organizations develop a sense of identity and belonging where the boundaries of identity lie and the implications of postmodern and critical theories' challenges to the concept of identity as deeply-rooted and authentic. Includes work by: Stuart Albert, Mats Alvesson, Blake E. Ashforth, Marilynn B. Brewer, George Cheney, Lars Thoger Christensen, C.H. Cooley, Kevin G. Corley, Barbara Czarniawska, Janet M. Dukerich, Jane E. Dutton, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Wendi Gardner, Linda E. Ginzela, Dennis A. Gioia, E. Goffman, Karen Golden-Biddle, Mary Jo Hatch, Roderick M. Kramer, Fred Rael, G.H. Mead, Michael G. Pratt, Anat Rafaeli, Hayagreeva Rao, Majken Schultz, Howard S. Schwartz, Robert I. Sutton, Henri Taijfel, John Turner, David A. Wherren, and Hugh Willmott. Intended to provide easy access to this material for students of organizational identity, it will also be of interest more broadly to students of business, sociology and psychology.
How do we decide what another person is "really like"? How do we influence the impressions others form of us, and how do their reactions affect us in turn? In "Interpersonal Perception" one of the world's leading social psychologists explores these and other intriguing questions about the nature of social interaction. Drawing on nearly 40 years of person perception research, much of it his own, Edward E. Jones provides a unified framework for understanding the thought processes underlying interpersonal relations and illuminates the complex interplay of motive, cognitive inference, and behavior in our encounters with others. Illustrated throughout with examples drawn from daily life and from psychological experiments, and spiced with personal reflections, the book provides a remarkable synthesis of work in the field. Personal, provocative, illuminating, "Interpersonal Perception" should be of great interest to students, professionals, and serious general readers alike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(cover)
Hindu Ss were asked to attribute the behavior of in-group (Hindu) and out-group (Muslim) members performing socially desirable or undesirable acts in terms of internal and external causes for the behavior. Subjects made internal attributions of in-group members performing socially desirable acts and external attributions for undesirable acts. The converse was true for attributions made by the Hindu Ss with respect to the same behavior performed by Muslims. The results were discussed in terms of the importance of attribution theory principles for studying prejudice and the relationship between attitudes and behavior.
Reviews 19 studies that examine causal attributions for acts by ingroup and outgroup members and focuses on (1) explanations for positive and negative outcomes, (2) success and failure, and (3) group differences. The evidence provides limited support for T. F. Pettigrew's (see record
1981-05426-001) "ultimate attribution error." There is evidence of intergroup attribution bias in all 3 types of studies reviewed, but this bias is limited to specific dimensions in a given study. Methodological shortcomings in studies of the ultimate attribution error are discussed, and suggestions for future research concerning Pettigrew's predictions are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A bstract
Do causal attributions serve the need to protect and / or enhance self‐esteem? In a recent review, Miller and Ross (1975) proposed that there is evidence for self‐serving effect in the attribution of success but not in the attribution of failure; and that this effect reflects biases in information‐processing rather than self‐esteem maintenance. The present review indicated that self‐serving effects for both success and failure are obtained in most but not all experimental paradigms. Processes which may suppress or even reverse the self‐serving effect were discussed. Most important, the examination of research in which self‐serving effects are obtained suggested that these attributions are better understood in motivational than in information‐processing terms.
This study aims to relate causal explanations for men's and women's achievements to implicit theories held about sex stereotypes. Two different methods were used: one following Weiner's two-dimensional attribution model, and another expressed in terms of attributional semantic space. The classical analysis, in terms of locus of causality and stability, replicated previous results and did not show differences between male and female observers. However, the second method showed that men and women use different vocabularies and call up different representational elements when they have to explain male and female achievement. Further, whereas males discriminate the performance of another male from that of a female, females evaluate the performances of males and females similarly. The use of free responses under a spontaneous model is discussed. Although not without disadvantages, this method is more sensitive to the implicit theories of the judges than are the classical ones.
In comparison processes between the self and others within a given social set, a marked tendency has been frequently observed for each person to present himself as more in conformity with the social norms prevailing in the set under consideration than others participating in this set generally are. This type of behavior has been designated here as ‘superior conformity of the self behavior’ (also called ‘PIP effect’). This article sets out to synthesize twenty experimental investigations in which it was attempted to delimit and explain this behavior.
A first set of experiments deals with the observed scope of the superior conformity of the self behavior. For this purpose, variations are systematically introduced in the characteristics of comparative situations: Types of sets of individuals (for instance, real groups or abstract sets — social categories); types of norms under consideration (for instance, norms dealing with the concrete execution of a task, norms relating to forms of behavior — personality characteristics, etc.); manners of comparing oneself with others (for instance, a specifically defined other or generalized others; comparisons on past, present or future behavior, etc.).
Having tested the scope of the superior conformity of the self behavior in various ways, we proceed to explain it theoretically and experimentally. Our explanation here is based on the existence of a fundamental conflict between two simultaneous processes that are both complementary and contradictory: The individual's need, on the one hand, for social conformity, which tends toward standardization and de‐individualization; on the other hand, his simultaneous search for social differentiation and individualization. This explanation is tested in a second set of experiments.
Our final purpose is to show the practical and theoretical importance of the study of the superior conformity of the self behavior in social psychology. In this connection we have shown, in a third set of experiments, how such a behavior can play a role in many phenomena studied by social psychology.
The norm of internality is defined as a social valorization of explanations of behaviours (attribution) and outcomes (locus of control) which emphazise the causal ro̊le of the actor. It is shown in this paper: (1) that internal explanations are linked to self-presentation strategies; (2) that internal explanations are more often selected by middle-class subjects; (3) that these explanations are learned by children and by adults in psycho-socio-educational settings. Finally, the norm of internality is assumed to be linked to social practices (evaluation practices).
A bstract
Previous research has shown that people make more derogatory attributions for the behavior of outgroup members than for the behavior of ingroup members. However, these results may be due merely to a cultural stereotype of the outgroup rather than to ethnocentrism (which would entail dislike for members of the outgroup). To examine the effect of ethnocentrism on attributions, irrespective of the cultural stereotype, and to examine whether people who differ in ethnocentrism also differ in their attributions for whites and blacks, high and low ethnocentric whites made attributions for the success and failure of black and white actors on a task which required an ability that was outside the scope of the cultural stereotype of blacks, i.e., ESP ability. Examination of these attributions revealed that the more ethnocentric the subjects were, the more they tended to give whites greater credit for success than blacks, and the more they tended to give whites less blame for failure than blacks. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for the persistence of prejudice and for the effects of motivations on attributions for the behavior of others.
Meta-accuracy is the extent to which people know how others see them. Following D.A. Kenny and L. Albright (1987), we show how the social relations model (SRM) can be used to investigate meta-accuracy. The results from 8 SRM studies involving 569 subjects are reviewed. We argue that people determine how others view them not from the feedback that they receive from others but from their own self-perceptions. Consistent with this argument are the findings that (a) people overestimate the degree of consistency in the ways that different targets view them and (b) people are better at understanding how others generally view them than how they are uniquely viewed by specific individuals.
Causal Attribution. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
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Traité de la Servitude Libérale. Analyse de la soumission
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Perception de la valeur sociale et norme d’internalité chez l’enfant
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