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Prior research has indicated that the fear of a health crisis (such as COVID-19) can influence people's shopping behavior. This study adds to previous knowledge by exploring the effect of COVID-19 fear on increasing brand equity via the adoption of contactless shopping. A total of 374 participants were surveyed to examine the moderating effect of four types of perceived consumer-attributed motives (values-driven, egoistic-driven, strategic-driven, and stakeholder-driven motives) on brand equity. The study provides various models to explain how fear can impact the overall consumer perception of the brand. Using fear appeal and attribution theory, this study argues that consumers prefer brands, which offer shopping experiences that can help them eliminate their fear during health crises. Contrary to the literature, our results indicate that strategic-, egoistic-, and stakeholder-driven motives positively moderate the relationship between COVID-19 fear and brand equity through contactless shopping. The results provide insights for companies that have adopted IT-enabled shopping methods to engage with consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws upon 89 in-person surveys with Rwandan women (ages 26–75) whose partners were incarcerated for genocide and examines how these women explain participation in the violence. We first engage in exploratory factor analysis of reasons cited for perpetrating genocide, which reveals (1) a factor comprised of internal reasons for participation, including greed and hatred; (2) a factor of external reasons, such as peer pressure or coercion, and (3) a factor driven by alcohol use. Next, we analyze how these factors are associated with the women's psychosocial wellbeing as measured by the World Health Organization's Self-Reporting Questionnaire. This quantitative analysis finds that, net of relevant control variables, accounts of participation in genocide that emphasize external reasons for participation are associated with better psychosocial wellbeing, while accounts of participation that emphasize internal reasons are associated with worse psychosocial wellbeing. We conclude by addressing the link between explanations for actions and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do people make supernatural attributions (SA) for events? This article focused on five possible predictors: stressfulness, unusual events, religiousness, seeing a supernatural explanation as meaningful, and seeing supernatural entities as powerful. We also predicted that people would be more likely to adopt supernatural explanations seen as highly accessible, motivating, and plausible. We focused primarily on SA in general and secondarily on specific entities. We tested preregistered hypotheses using survey data in two samples of undergraduates: one reporting life‐changing events (N = 594) and another reporting on an event with a supernatural air, or supernaturally perceived events (N = 475). Results supported all proposed predictors except for stressfulness. Path analyses revealed that, in both samples, predictors were linked with seeing supernatural explanations as accessible, plausible, and motivating; these ratings, in turn, had positive associations with SA. These results begin to integrate previous theory and research on individual predictors of SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace incivility research has grown considerably over recent decades. However, this stream of research still has not adequately explained targets' attributions for experienced incivility or their potential positive responses to incivility. The present study longitudinally investigates the relationship between attributions for workplace incivility and relationship improvement responses with data from 1871 person‐month observations. In contrast to expectations, we found targets' beliefs that their relationship with the uncivil coworker was the cause of the incivility (i.e., relational locus of causality) were negatively related to relationship improvement behaviours. The results also indicated that this negative relationship was attenuated by belief that the target had control over the cause of incivility (i.e., internal controllability) and task interdependence at the between‐person level, and by belief that the uncivil coworker had control over the cause of incivility (i.e., external controllability) at the within‐person level. Direct effects analysis indicated that internal and external controllability attributions for incivility had significant positive between‐person effects on relationship improvement efforts. Frequency of interaction and task interdependence were both significant positive predictors of relationship improvement efforts at both the between‐ and within‐person levels. Implications for research and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this mixed-methods experiment, we examined the impacts of an externally provided rationale and teachers' own beliefs on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to student misbehavior. Teachers (N = 120) viewed a video describing three instances of a student's misbehavior, then were randomly assigned to receive one of three explanatory rationales for the misbehaviors, including intentionality, cognitive deficits, adverse childhood experiences, or a comparison condition that offered no new information. Teachers reported causal attributions, emotional responses, perceived self-efficacy, and disciplinary strategy. Results suggest that teachers' attributions are independently predicted by their own beliefs about the student's misbehavior and the provided rationale. Further, both sources of information predicted teachers' feelings, self-efficacy, and disciplinary strategies. We discuss implications for changing teachers' attributions of misbehavior and increasing the use of positive behavior management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding public perception of technology is crucial to aligning research, development, and governance of technology. This article introduces micro scenarios as an integrative method to evaluate mental models and social acceptance across numerous technologies and concepts using a few single-item scales within a single comprehensive survey. This approach contrasts with traditional methods that focus on detailed assessments of as few as one scenario. The data can be interpreted in two ways: Perspective (1): Average evaluations of each participant can be seen as individual differences, providing reflexive measurements across technologies or topics. This helps in understanding how perceptions of technology relate to other personality factors. Perspective (2): Average evaluations of each technology or topic can be interpreted as technology attributions. This makes it possible to position technologies on visuo-spatial maps to simplify identification of critical issues, conduct comparative rankings based on selected criteria, and to analyze the interplay between different attributions. This dual approach enables the modeling of acceptance-relevant factors that shape public opinion. It offers a framework for researchers, technology developers, and policymakers to identify pivotal factors for acceptance at both the individual and technology levels. I illustrate this methodology with examples from my research, provide practical guidelines, and include R code to enable others to conduct similar studies. This paper aims to bridge the gap between technological advancement and societal perception, offering a tool for more informed decision-making in technology development and policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

America’s juvenile justice system was founded on the notion that the juvenile court would serve as the “ultimate parent” for youth. Yet, the history of youth punishment challenges the promise of juvenile “justice.” To offer a more comprehensive account of the family systems in juvenile court, this study draws from the insights of historical research on youth punishment and family criminalization to examine juvenile court outcomes in Arizona. Combining a historical lens with insights from attribution theory, we use quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the relationship between diverse family systems, including single mothers, single fathers, extended families, and foster care families, and juvenile court outcomes (i.e., diversion, preadjudication detention, petition, and judicial dismissal). Our findings suggest the need for more complex understandings of both family and punishment, and more expansive theorizations of the sorts of solutions that match the scope and scale of the problem.

Current models of discrimination fail to account for the fact that many people belong to intermediate identity groups, that is, groups that share characteristics with both a low-status minority and a high-status majority group (e.g., biracial, bisexual), and thus do not occupy one clear position on a status hierarchy. We investigated bisexual targets to test whether perceivers rely on perceived status differentials to determine whether someone faced discrimination. As predicted, whether bisexual people were perceived as victims of discrimination depended on contextual cues about their relative status. Participants expected both gay/lesbian and bisexual individuals to face more discrimination than heterosexual individuals. But they were more likely to say that a bisexual woman who had lost out to a heterosexual woman competitor had faced discrimination compared to a bisexual woman who had lost out to a lesbian woman. These results may help make sense of how real-world discrimination claims are adjudicated.

Several studies have now concluded that phubbing (i.e., using a phone to snub conversational partners) has a negative influence on conversations, individuals, and their relationships. Yet, phone usage during face-to-face conversations may vary in degree, purpose, and frequency, and research has yet to identify the point at which phone usage causes conversational partners to feel phubbed. Using Attribution Theory as a framework, the present study begins to explore the parameters of phubbing to understand when phone usage does and does not count as phubbing. Findings demonstrated that individual biases and attributions influence perceptions and effects of phone usage during face-to-face conversations. Specifically, individuals with more negative biases towards phone usage were more likely to activate an attributional framework that caused them to believe that their partner's phone usage constituted phubbing. Findings also suggested that nonverbal immediacy may mediate the effects of phone usage during face-to-face conversations such that phone usage that hinders nonverbal immediacy is more likely to be perceived as phubbing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current models of discrimination fail to account for the fact that many people belong to intermediate identity groups, that is, groups that share characteristics with both a low-status minority and a high-status majority group (e.g., biracial, bisexual), and thus do not occupy one clear position on a status hierarchy. We investigated bisexual targets to test whether perceivers rely on perceived status differentials to determine whether someone faced discrimination. As predicted, whether bisexual people were perceived as victims of discrimination depended on contextual cues about their relative status. Participants expected both gay/lesbian and bisexual individuals to face more discrimination than heterosexual individuals. But they were more likely to say that a bisexual woman who had lost out to a heterosexual woman competitor had faced discrimination compared to a bisexual woman who had lost out to a lesbian woman. These results may help make sense of how real-world discrimination claims are adjudicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good fortune can be attributed to many sources, including other people, personal efforts, and various theistic and nontheistic supernatural forces (e.g., God, karma). Four studies (total N = 4,579) of religiously diverse samples from the United States and the United Kingdom investigated the distinct emotional reactions to recalled positive experiences attributed to natural and supernatural benefactors. We found that the hallmarks of interpersonal gratitude (e.g., thankfulness, admiration, indebtedness) were reported when believers attributed their good fortune to a personal, benevolent God. However, a distinct emotional profile arose when participants attributed good fortune to the process of karmic payback, which was associated with relatively less gratitude but with higher scores for feelings of pride and deservingness. These results were partially explained by participants' attributions of positive experiences to an external agent (e.g., God) versus a universal law or internal factors as in the case of karma. We conclude that diverse spiritual beliefs influence causal attributions for good fortune, which, in turn, predict distinct emotional responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Weight gain was common during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially creating a new descriptive norm about weight gain. The unique context of a global pandemic may have influenced situational attributions for weight gain that were not typical prior to the pandemic. We examined the effects of the new norm on people's views about responsibility and blame for weight gain. Methods. In two preregistered surveys, we aimed to manipulate the salience of weight gain during COVID-19, and measured views about responsibility and blame for weight gain. Results. Among participants who gained weight, the more common they perceived weight gain to be, the more they felt their own weight gain was understandable (b = 0.09, se = 0.04, p = 0.02), but perceived commonness didn't relate to their feelings of responsibility and blame for weight gain. For participants who didn't gain weight, the perceived commonness of weight gain was associated with less blame towards people who gained weight (b = 0.11, se= 1.46, p = 0.044), but not with responsibility for weight gain. Conclusion. Participants believed weight gain was common during COVID, but this descriptive norm had mixed associations with attributions for one's own and others' weight gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attributional processes about why outcomes occur constitute an important mediating mechanism that can explain different reactions of both the targets of harassment and their peers. The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of a measure of attributions for victimization among adolescents, using Confirmatory Factor Analyses, and to examine differences among roles (i.e., not involved, bullies, victims, bully-victims) in self-blame attributions, by means of testing invariance. The sample consisted of 1,207 adolescents (54% females; Mage = 14.89; SD = 1.39). The results showed a multidimensional structure of the scale with three factors (Characterological self-blame, Behavioral self-blame, and External Attribution). Partial invariance was found across different roles, highlighting a difference in the latent means of Characterological Self-Blame, higher in the victim group than in the other roles. The findings suggested how victims showed biases in their interpretations of social situations attributing the negative experience to internal, stable, and uncontrollable causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating a social identity approach with Cortina's (2008) theorizing about selective incivility as modern discrimination, we examine how identification—with an organization, with one's gender, and as a feminist—shapes bystanders' interpretations and responses to witnessed incivility (i.e., interpersonal acts of disrespect) and selective incivility (i.e., incivility motivated by targets' social group membership) toward women at work. We propose that bystanders with stronger organizational identification are less likely to perceive incivility toward female colleagues as discrimination and intervene, but female bystanders with stronger gender identification are more likely to do so. Results from two-wave field data in a cross-lagged panel design (Study 1, N = 336) showed that organizational identification negatively predicted observed selective incivility 1 year later but revealed no evidence of an effect of female bystanders' gender identification. We replicated and extended these results with a vignette experiment (Study 2, N = 410) and an experimental recall study (Study 3, N = 504). Findings revealed a "dark side" of organizational identification: strongly identified bystanders were less likely to perceive incivility as discrimination, but there were again no effects of women's gender identification. Study 3 also showed that bystander feminist identification increased intervention via perceived discrimination. These results raise doubts that female bystanders are more sensitive to recognizing other women's mistreatment as discrimination, but more strongly identified feminists (male or female) were more likely to intervene. Although strongly organizationally identified bystanders were more likely to overlook women's mistreatment, they were also more likely to intervene once discrimination was apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why have public reactions to police misconduct been so polarized, and why have opposing social movements emerged in response? This study explores attributions of police misconduct, using a myriad of possible attributions and a population-matched national sample (N = 700), to extend our understanding of the perceived causes of police misconduct and who holds which attributions, focusing on race, racial attitudes, and political ideology. We find that attributions could be divided into (a) multifaceted attributions—the belief that misconduct has multiple causes; and (b) excusatory attributions—the belief that misconduct is caused by factors external to police officers and agencies. Endorsement of these attributions stems from racial and political attitudes, with mediation analyses finding that race plays an indirect role in endorsing attributions of police misconduct. As such, efforts to address police misconduct face not only a political power struggle but also a racially attitudinal one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does a person's socioeconomic status (SES) relate to how she thinks others see her? Seventeen studies (eight pre-registered; three reported in-text and 14 replications in supplemental online material [SOM], total N = 6,124) found that people with low SES believe others see them as colder and less competent than those with high SES. The SES difference in meta-perceptions was explained by people's self-regard and self-presentation expectations. Moreover, lower SES people's more negative meta-perceptions were not warranted: Those with lower SES were not seen more negatively, and were less accurate in guessing how others saw them. They also had important consequences: People with lower SES blamed themselves more for negative feedback about their warmth and competence. Internal meta-analyses suggested this effect was larger and more consistent for current socioeconomic rank than cultural background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a set of 10 conditions (e.g. homosexuality, obesity, drug addiction), we explored associations between moral judgments, agency evaluations, and perceptions that a condition is a mental illness. In a preregistered study (n = 1,249 U.S. adults), we found that perceptions of lower agency were associated with decreased moral wrongness judgments, as well as increased perceptions of mental illness, yet perceived moral wrongness was the most robust predictor of perceived mental illness. In other words, although perceived mental illness was associated with evaluations that tend to be morally exonerating (such as less control and greater difficulty changing), we observed positive associations between wrongness judgments and perceived mental illness. We also found that—at least within our set of conditions—political conservatives tended to evaluate conditions as more controllable, more morally wrong, and more of a mental illness, yet on the whole, ideology was not a reliable predictor of perceived mental illness. Instead, liberals and conservatives with similar wrongness evaluations tended to similarly ascribe mental illness. These findings raise questions about potential causal relationships between mental illness perceptions and moral evaluations and the possibility that perceived moral wrongness might sometimes contribute to perceptions that a condition ought to be considered a mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achievement motivation is a significant contributor to the foreign language learning process. This study explored the achievement perceptions of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners who were studying at different higher education institutions with dissimilar degree programs, such as a vocational college, an undergraduate program in a public university, and Sino-American university undergraduate and graduate programs in China. The study also aimed to reveal EFLs’ causal attributions of success and their underlying dimensionality styles through an open-ended questionnaire and the Causal Attribution Dimensions Scale (CDSII) (McAuley et al., 1992). Findings revealed that two thirds of the participants perceived themselves as unsuccessful learners. Both in success and failure conditions the participants had similar attributions naming effort, interest, and ability as the most frequent ones. The attributions for close ended question did not show difference across school types. Qualitative data revealed more themes for failure, and the data showed some differences across the school types. Environment and relevance to life/career attributions were the most common in both success and failure conditions. Causal dimensionality analysis revealed more internal, personally controllable stable and moderately externally manageable attributional styles for success, and more internal and personally controllable attributional styles for failure. Findings were compared and discussed according to school types.

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This research investigates whether consumers anticipate any negative financial consequences arising from personalization practices, and examines how individuals respond to messages about its financial welfare implications, to see what factors increase blame toward firms for the impact their tactics can have on vulnerable populations. Results from a pilot study show that while privacy risks of personalization are highly accessible, few consider its potential to influence spending behavior. In addition, experimental studies reveal that individuals are more likely to blame firms for increases in teen consumer spending when they learn how online tactics limit and determine consumer choices, compared with when messages focus on firm's use of personal information. Additional studies also introduce a moderator for this effect. Overall, this research highlights limitations in consumers' ability to consider consequences of personalization, and provides guidance for advocates on how to better educate the public about potential issues associated with online marketing tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most medical researchers and social scientists concur that mental illness is caused by "nature" and "nurture," yet efforts to reduce stigma tend to focus on biomedical causes. This study analyzed original survey data collected from 1,849 respondents in 2021–2022 who were randomly assigned to 16 experimental vignette conditions. Each vignette portrayed a man and varied according to which psychiatric diagnosis his situation resembled (alcohol dependence, depression, or schizophrenia) and what caused it: genetics (nature), environmental stress (nurture), or both. Control conditions included subclinical distress and no explanation. Exposure to the environmental explanation (vs. no explanation) predicted identifying mental illness, reduced expectation of violence toward others, increased willingness to socially interact, and optimism for recovery with treatment. Exposure to the nature and nurture explanation (vs. no explanation) predicted reduced desire for social distance. Implications of these findings for future research and for contact-based anti-stigma efforts are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior work shows that gift recipients are surprisingly insensitive to the amount of money givers spend, even though more expensive gifts represent a greater investment by givers and impart greater value to recipients. We suggest that recipients' apparent indifference may be explained by competing reactions to gift expenditure. Specifically, we propose that recipients are not unresponsive to gift expenditure, per se, but that money's association with instrumentality means that conspicuous monetary expenditures can cause recipients to contemplate givers' instrumental motives (i.e., become suspicious). Four studies show that large gift expenditures can cause recipients to become suspicious of givers' motives and that suspicion undermines recipients' otherwise positive reactions. We further show that expenditures that are less strongly associated with instrumentality (time and effort) and gifts that have a weaker association with money and instrumentality (experiential gifts) are less prone to suspicion and are appreciated more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many reasons to perpetrate intimate partner violence (IPV). This study analyzes the attributions and perceptions of Portuguese men who perpetrate IPV to understand their justifications for violence against their female partners. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven male perpetrators. Through thematic analysis, three main categories emerged: self, partner, and situational factors. Perpetrators identified self attributes as justifications to abuse, such as individual characteristics, emotional disturbances, and jealousy; partner attributes, such as partners' characteristics and the use of violence against them; and situational factors, such as alcohol abuse and relational stressors. Perpetrators' narratives evidenced a tendency to conceive violence as an unintentional and unplanned action, attributing violence to uncontrollable factors, and an attitude of non-accountability for their behaviors/actions. A deeper understanding of perpetrators' perceptions and attributions for IPV will help to develop more effective intervention programs with offenders or to improve the existent ones, for example, in terms of dropout prevention, to reduce violence against women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stigma towards people with intellectual disability affects various aspects of their lives, including access to employment, housing, health and social care services. Furthermore, this stigma reduces their social opportunities and is even reflected in laws that diminish their autonomy. Due to the practical significance of this issue, the aim of this research is to explore for the first time the social stigma associated with intellectual disability in a representative sample of the Spanish population. Method: A cross‐sectional quantitative descriptive study was conducted, involving a representative sample of the population (N = 2746). The study includes descriptive analyses and hierarchical regressions to examine various dimensions of stigma, such as attitudes, attributions, and intentions of social distance. Results: Medium levels of stigma are found regarding attitudes and attributions towards people with intellectual disability, while levels are medium‐low concerning the intention of social distance. The most reliable indicators of stigma across its various dimensions encompass attitudes, attributions, and the intention of social distance. Factors that contribute to lower stigma include knowing someone with an intellectual disability, being willing to discuss intellectual disability with an acquaintance who has it and having a progressive political ideology. People with intellectual disability show more negative attributions towards themselves. Living with a person with an intellectual disability is another predictor of more stigmatising attitudes, but less intention of social distance. Results are mixed regarding age, gender, and educational level. Conclusion: Combating the stigmatisation of people with intellectual disabilities must include comprehensive actions to address attitudes, attributions and behavioural intentions. Public policies, such as national campaigns and programmes, should include contact with and open conversations about intellectual disability, and sensitivity to sociodemographic variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial and ethnic disparities permeate juvenile justice processing. Research attempting to explain these disparities has superficially considered the role of family measures in the differential treatment of youth of color. In particular, research has given little attention to the role of family supervision, despite its relevance to the mission of the juvenile court. Using attribution theory as a framework and data from three Arizona jurisdictions, we examine the effect of race/ethnicity on probation officers’ attributions of family supervision; the effect of family characteristics, such as financial strain, parental incarceration, and family risk as measured by a risk assessment instrument, in shaping attributions of family supervision; and the effect of race/ethnicity, family characteristics, and attributions of family supervision on recommendations to formally or informally process youth. We find that attributions of family supervision are informed by race/ethnicity and family characteristics and that attributions of family supervision overwhelmingly drive probation officers’ processing recommendations. Suggestions for improving policy and practice are discussed.

Unsurprisingly, victims and perpetrators often view aggressive behaviors differently. The current study examined whether victims, perpetrators, and witnesses also explained aggressive behaviors differently. The current study included 408 participants who recalled a time when they harmed another person (i.e., perpetrator memory), when another person harmed them (i.e., victim memory), and when they witnessed an aggressive behavior (i.e., witness memory). Replicating past research, participants rated their recalled aggressive behaviors from the victim perspective as being more harmful and less justified than they did for their recalled behaviors from the perpetrator perspective. When examining their explanations for the behaviors, participants most often explained their own aggressive behaviors by referring to their mental deliberations that led to their behavior (i.e., reason explanations). In comparison, they referred to background causal factors (i.e., causal history of reasons explanations)—such as personality traits, demographic factors, cultural norms, etc.—more when explaining others' aggressive behaviors, especially when the explanation was from the victim perspective. These findings show the subtleties in how people communicate about their aggressive interactions: When communicating about their own aggressive behaviors, people use modes of explanations that portray their behaviors as sensible, and when communicating about a time when another person behaved aggressively towards them, people use modes of explanations that omit the thought processes that led to those behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the PISA and TIMSS results, Kosovo is among the low-achieving countries in mathematics. Analyzing the factors that contribute to this situation is a local priority. This study focuses on secondary school students' beliefs and attributions related to the level of impact of four main groups of factors (student characteristics; teacher characteristics; school and classroom environment characteristics; and home environment characteristics) on achievements in mathematics. Respondents in the study were 410 students, randomly chosen from eight secondary schools in Prishtina. A Likert scale questionnaire was used for data collection. The reliability of the questionnaire was checked using Cronbach's alpha. The descriptive analysis was used to measure the students' answers according to the four subscales (groups of factors). To explore the effect of gender and the type of school attended on students' opinions, independent samples t-test was used, while one-way ANOVA served to explore the effect of success and age. Students believe that teacher characteristics are the most critical determinant for achievements in mathematics. According to students' opinions, the order of the impact of the groups of factors, ranked from highest to lowest, is teacher characteristics; student characteristics; school and classroom environment characteristics; home environment characteristics. The findings revealed no statistically significant effect of gender on students' opinions. There were some differences in students' opinions based on the type of school, age, and success. However, the effect size of the difference was considerable only in the case of the type of school attended regarding the influence of teacher characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital assistants such as Alexa can provide feedback to residents that affect energy consumption. One important characteristic of feedback refers to the emotionality of the provided feedback. Research on social cognition and attribution theory suggests that effects of emotional messages on behavior are contingent on the inferred cause of the emotion (e.g., why a message was said in a happy or neutral voice). As a prerequisite, to have the intended effects on energy saving behaviors, Alexa's emotional messages have to trigger three basic social cognitions: (1) the emotional display has to be identified by residents; (2) residents have to correctly identify their behavior as a target of the emotional display; and (3) residents have to attribute the emotional display to that behavior. In two studies (N = 194 and N = 353), several conditions were identified that triggered these three basic social cognitions in a simulated environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most frequent type of violence experienced by women, with devastating consequences for their physical and mental health. Due to exposure of women to the violence, their perceptions and interpretations of the situation may be distorted, making it difficult to leave the violent relationship. Exploring the obstacles that women must confront to verbalize their situation or ask for help is critical in preventing IPV against women (IPVAW). For this purpose, two studies were implemented: Study 1 included a focus group of seven victims of IPVAW and Study 2 included 550 women (n = 258 suffering IPVAW and n = 292 not suffering IPVAW). In Study 1, women reported that perceptions (e.g., minimization of the situation), interpretations (e.g., justifying the aggressor), and feelings (e.g., guilt) were the main obstacles in leaving a violent relationship. Study 2 revealed that participants who suffered IPVAW obtained lower scores in perceived severity, and attribution of responsibility to the aggressor, as well as higher scores in feelings of embarrassment and guilt than those who had not suffered IPVAW. No significant differences were found in risk assessed and feelings of fear. These findings highlight the serious consequences of exposure to IPVAW, requiring the implementation of preventive programs to address the distortion of reality due to the aggressor's manipulation, as well as the influence of sociocultural factors on the construction of women's roles in relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years after Feagin's pioneering 1972 study, we present a systematic review of the measurement of attributions for poverty and economic inequality. We conducted a search for articles published from 1972 to 2023 in APA PsycArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, APA PsycInfo, PSYNDEX Literature with PSYNDEX Tests, and Google Scholar. We used the following English keywords: "poor", "poverty", "inequality", "attribution", and "attributions" and their equivalents in Spanish. Applying our inclusion and exclusion criteria led to a final sample of 74 articles. We report three main findings. First, the majority of studies classify attributions on the dimensions of individualistic vs. structural. Second, there is a clear tendency to measure attributions for domestic poverty without considering supranational factors or poverty as a global challenge. Third, studies focus almost exclusively on poverty rather than (economic) inequality. We identify potential for future development within the literature, namely, from a domestic to a global perspective, from locus to controllability, and from poverty to inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the attributional patterns of caregivers of autistic children, particularly in relation to caregivers of children with other developmental or behavioral disorders. This study examined differences in caregiver attributions of child behavior between three groups: toddlers with (1) Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or ASD concerns; (2) Other developmental concerns; and (3) No concerns. Qualitative descriptions of actual child behaviors were coded using a three-stage content analysis. Regression analyses were utilized to determine if group membership predicted types of positive and challenging behaviors caregivers endorsed, as well as their attributions of these behaviors. Caregivers of children with ASD or ASD concerns endorsed similar types of behaviors, but rated their child's positive behaviors as less characteristic of their child and more a function of the particular situation, less stable or permanent, and less controllable as compared to caregivers of toddlers with other developmental or no concerns. Additionally, they rated their child's challenging behaviors as more stable or permanent and less controllable as compared to caregivers of toddlers with other developmental concerns or no concerns. These findings suggest that caregivers of children with ASD and ASD related concerns may be vulnerable to a negative attributional pattern, which can have important implications for child and family functioning and overall quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facebook users can receive high quality emotional support in response to their posts, but not all emotional support is of the same quality nor does it all benefit support receivers. Receivers' perceptions of supportive messages influence the outcomes they experience. This study assessed support receivers' attributions for the helpful support offered to them on Facebook to understand how their perceptions of the causes of that support may explain why some messages produce more beneficial outcomes than others. Participants (N = 147), who comprised predominantly white, female Facebook users in the United States, identified the most helpful comment on a recent support-seeking post on Facebook, rated the extent to which they made three types of attributions (dispositional, interpersonal, and medium) for the comment, and rated their corresponding emotional improvement. Raters coded the level of verbal person-centeredness (VPC) of each comment. Supportive messages with higher levels of VPC corresponded with more dispositional attributions and fewer medium attributions. Dispositional attributions also explained why the level of VPC of the most helpful comments was positively associated with emotional improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shame is a common trauma response that is associated with the development and maintenance of PTSD. Phenomenological descriptions of shame indicate that shame arises from internal, stable and global causal attributions (negative attributions) for the precipitating event. The current study investigated whether negative attributions would be associated with higher levels of shame and PTSD, and whether shame would mediate the relationship between causal attributions and PTSD. As negative attributions may reflect a common transdiagnostic process in both depression and PTSD, it also examined whether depression would moderate this relationship. Eighty-seven participants meeting criteria for a Criterion A stressor were administered a structured PTSD diagnostic interview and a series of self-report measures. Findings indicate that shame mediated the relationship between internal, stable and global trauma-related causal attributions and PTSD symptoms. Further, depression did not moderate this relationship, indicating that negative causal attributions are associated with shame and PTSD independent of depression. Results provide empirical support for the cognitive concomitants of trauma-related shame, which raise the possibility that addressing negative attributions through cognitive therapeutic methods may be pertinent in reducing trauma-related shame. Future prospective data is needed to establish cognitive antecedents to shame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on attribution theory, we propose in Study 1 that subordinates' supervisor‐directed responses to abusive supervision depend upon their causal attributions for the abuse. Using a scenario‐based study (N = 183), we test a moderated mediation model in which the entity blamed for abusive supervision (supervisor, organization, self) is expected to predict subordinates' behavioral intentions toward their supervisor via affective responses (supervisor disliking). This relationship will be exacerbated when subordinates perceive the cause of abusive supervision as stable. We found that subordinates who blamed themselves or the organization for the abuse disliked their supervisor less and had higher OCB‐supervisor intentions, and this relationship was stronger when subordinates perceived the cause of abuse as stable. Disliking mediated the relationship between supervisor attributions and OCB‐supervisor, but this relationship is not moderated by perceived stability. In Study 2, we explore whether there are additional entities that are blamed for abusive supervision and the reasons they are held accountable. We examined qualitative responses (N = 107) from abused subordinates to find that they most commonly blame their supervisor, themselves, and the organization for abusive supervision. However, subordinates occasionally blame their relationship with their supervisor and their work group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of implicit organizational timetables suggests that leaders are expected to be older than their followers. However, increased age diversity in the workforce has led to situations in which this is not the case. Expanding on the core tenets of leader categorization theory, the present study establishes the concept of an age-prototypical team characterized by the age of the leader relative to their followers and explores how team age prototypicality influences subsequent observer evaluations of the team. Moreover, this study examines possible boundary conditions and intermediary mechanisms that further explain bias in the evaluation of age-diverse teams. To establish and explore the nature and effect of age-based team prototypes, we conducted 3 independent experimental vignette studies. In Study 1 (n = 590), we establish evidence for age-based team prototypes, by demonstrating a "leaders are older, followers are younger" prototype and further considering the diversity of follower age as a boundary condition for the effects of leader age on ratings of attraction to the team, anticipated team behaviors, and expectations for future success. Then, in Study 2 (n = 686) and Study 3 (n = 782), we extend these results by examining how the perception of team (Study 2) and leader (Study 3) performance cues are influenced by team age composition prototypes. In Study 3, we also consider intermediary attributional mechanisms that explain associations between performance and perceived qualities of the team. Results suggest that prototype inconsistent teams (i.e. teams with younger leaders and older followers) are viewed more harshly in the face of negative performance cues as a function of team composition rather than because of leader or follower attributes individually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is linked to more frequent experiences of ostracism (being excluded and ignored). Here, we examine attributions of everyday ostracism that may play an important role in individuals’ experience of and reactions to ostracism. Based on interpersonal and attribution theories of depression, we hypothesize that internal (compared to external) attributions of ostracism and attributions to being burdensome are particularly frequent among depressed individuals. Methods: We use an experience sampling approach including retrospective reports of ostracism (N = 490) and event-contingent reports of ostracism (n = 323, k = 1107 experiences in 14 days) to analyze the frequency of everyday ostracism experiences, subsequent need threat, and attributions of ostracism by depressed individuals (i.e., individuals with stronger current depressive symptoms and those who had been diagnosed with depression before). Results: Depressed individuals report more frequent retrospective ostracism, and more frequent everyday ostracism, as well as higher need threat following everyday ostracism. Depressed individuals do not attribute ostracism more internally, but they attribute being ostracized more frequently to being burdensome, as well as to hostile intent of the ostracizer(s). Limitations: This research used a non-clinical sample and self-reports of current depressive symptoms and previous diagnoses of depression. Future research in patient populations and longitudinal designs will fruitfully complement the present findings. Conclusions: Maladaptive attributions of everyday ostracism may perpetuate the cycle between ostracism experiences and depression. This warrants attention from clinical practitioners, specifically in interventions against cognitive biases in depression.

BackgroundOnly 8-23% of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer patients survive for 10 years or longer. Given the need for targeted interventions to improve survival, we interviewed this relatively rare survivor population to gain personalized insights into the reasons for their survival. The aim of this study was to characterize subjective attributions of survival and specific coping mechanisms long-term survivors of ovarian cancer.MethodsTwenty-two semi-structured, qualitative interviews assessing survival attributions and coping strategies were conducted from April to November 2014. Data were analyzed in a multistep process using ATLAS.ti.8: codes were identified during review of the transcripts and refined with literature review; the frequency of codes and code co-occurrence was calculated, and codes were grouped into themes. Resulting themes were checked by a national leader of an ovarian cancer advocacy organization and compared against available literature.ResultsThematic analysis found that participants credited their long-term survival to a variety of factors including medical, social, religious/spiritual, and lifestyle/personal characteristics. Some participants rejected these same attributions, concluding that the reason for survival was due to luck or unknowable. Several of Carver et al.'s theoretical dimensions of coping were evident in our sample: planning, positive reinterpretation, social support, religion and acceptance whereas three relatively new strategies were uncovered: conserving emotional energy, value-based activity coping, and self-care.ConclusionsLong-term survivors' perspectives were largely consistent with those of newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients and ovarian cancer survivors of shorter duration. However, the long-term survivors were also willing to reject conventional attributions for survival and recognized the importance of disciplined self-preservational coping strategies.

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, humanitarian NGOs have instituted safety protocols intended to reduce the risk of spreading infection during services to refugees. But those protocols are not always followed, and how staff attribute refugee non-adherence reveals underlying power dynamics in humanitarian assistance which can shape how they approach improving adherence in order to enhance effective service provision to the refugees. Using the data from 1466 interviews conducted with 468 different NGO staff in Türkiye, Jordan, and Lebanon, this study exhibits how paternalistic rhetoric operated in humanitarianism during the initial stages of the pandemic. While staff attribute the non-adherence of refugees to essential refugee culture and sometimes “immoral” character, they attribute their own non-adherence to morally neutral situational factors. Some NGO staff even perceived the refugees as incapable of complying with the safety protocols without assistance. While the literature on paternalism focuses on North/South power dynamics between service providers and refugees, our data show that these dynamics also exist in South-South humanitarian interventions where both the service providers and the refugees are from the region and have similar cultural backgrounds.

Despite significant advances in acceptance and rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, this population often faces negative and stigma-related stressors in their lives. In this study, we examined whether negative attributional style (NAS) for stigma-related stressors is associated with psychological well-being and whether concealment behavior, which has also been associated with harm to psychological well-being, may mediate such association. Furthermore, we examined whether elapsed time since initial disclosure may moderate the link between concealment behavior and psychological well-being. A sample of 69 participants, self-identified as LGB, completed self-report measures of attributions towards stigma-related stressors, identity concealment behavior, elapsed time since initial disclosure, and psychological well-being. We found that NAS for stigma-related stressors is associated with lower psychological well-being and that concealment behavior mediated the association. Elapsed time since initial disclosure did not significantly moderate the link between concealment behavior and psychological well-being. These findings suggest that concealment behavior may serve as a mechanism linking internal beliefs to psychological well-being and highlight the need to consider targeting concealment behavior in interventions for LGB individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not receive appropriate services following diagnosis. Although information about ADHD is widely available and abundant, sometimes conflicting information may impede parent help-seeking. The present study examined parent knowledge of ADHD and attributions of child behavior as predictors of interest in formal and informal help seeking at the point of child evaluation for possible ADHD. Participants (89 caregivers of children ages 5–12) completed a measure of ADHD knowledge, rated attributions of child behavior in response to vignettes depicting ADHD symptoms, and indicated their interest in a range of formal and informal services that could be recommended following the child's evaluation. Parents reported strongest interest in academic services followed by medication, child focused therapy, and informal services (e.g., seeking information about ADHD). Family income, ADHD knowledge and attributions that child behavior will persist over time were associated with all types of help-seeking interest except academic services. Perceptions of child control over behavior predicted greater interest in medication. Findings suggest that increasing parent knowledge of ADHD and exploring parent goals and preferences for treatment may increase service utilization for children following assessment/diagnosis of ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparison of Vincenzio Galilei's poetry and his father Galileo's will be offered in this paper. As the majority of Vincenzio's poems have remained unpublished, the original handwritten codes attributed to Vincenzio have been considered. Assonances between the father's and the son's productions have been observed, both in common literary models and in the use of burlesque poetry. Whereas the lines in the Riccardiano code ms. 2749 are close to the tones and language of Galileo's love sonnets, the Marciano code ms. It., IX, 138 (=6749) reveals a strongly ironic, mocking nature, approaching the one of "Against the Donning of the Gown". The study of Vincenzio's poetry offers a possibility to broaden the perspective on the literary culture of the Galilei family, to analyse the critical issues of attribution, and to discover Vincenzio's peculiar, many-sided character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers play a fundamental role in guaranteeing an inclusive teaching practice using Educational Robotics (ER). However, they may hold genderdifferentiated views of their students' academic abilities and aptitudes in ER. This quasi-experimental test investigated gender-differentiated attributions and behavioral intentions of N=158 Italian learning support teachers (LST) answering a questionnaire at the end of a post-graduate ER course. Participants read one of two vignettes regarding a student failing an ER activity in class: - (1) a boy; or (2) a girl. Then participants answered items based on measures that assessed their gender stereotypes, attributions for the child's failure, and hypothetical intentions to use ER with the same child. Results of moderation analyses indicated that the failure of the depicted girl was attributed to internal, stable and uncontrollable causes (i.e., low abilities in ER) to a greater extent than the same failure of the depicted boy, among LST with high levels of gender stereotypes. Furthermore, LST with high levels of gender stereotypes declared less intention to use ER with the depicted girl as compared with the depicted boy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tripartite model proposed by Feagin (1972) is widely used, although empirical evidence does not always support it. Thus, we set out to obtain empirical evidence on the psychometric properties of a pool of items on causes of poverty using CTT and IRT. In this research/study, 280 citizens of Córdoba from 18 to 65 years old participated. Results from confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency showed acceptable values for the three-factor models. Results derived from IRT indicate that, in general, the items estimate a wide range of values of the latent traits, discriminating between people with different levels of trait. The need to gather new empirical evidence of Feagin's proposal using complementary methods is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]