TY - JOUR
T1 - Do People Agree about the Causes of Behavior? A Social Relations Analysis of Behavior Ratings and Causal Attributions
AU - Robins, Richard W.
AU - Connell, Joanie B.
AU - Mendelsohn, Gerald A.
AU - Kwan, Virginia S.Y.
PY - 2004/2
Y1 - 2004/2
N2 - Two studies examined consistency and agreement in behavior ratings and causal attributions. In Study 1, participants (N = 280) engaged in a series of getting-acquainted conversations in one of 3 communication media (face-to-face, telephone, computer mediated); in Study 2, participants (N = 120) engaged in a competitive group task. In both studies, participants rated themselves and their interaction partner(s) on a set of behaviors and then made attributions about the causes of those behaviors. The major findings were that (a) participants consistently favored some causal factors over others in explaining both their own and their partners' behavior, supporting the existence of generalized attributional styles; and (b) participants showed moderate self-partner and partner-partner agreement about behavior but virtually no agreement about the causes of behavior. Thus, in brief interactions people tend to see themselves and others through the lens of their stable patterns of perceiving and interpreting behavior.
AB - Two studies examined consistency and agreement in behavior ratings and causal attributions. In Study 1, participants (N = 280) engaged in a series of getting-acquainted conversations in one of 3 communication media (face-to-face, telephone, computer mediated); in Study 2, participants (N = 120) engaged in a competitive group task. In both studies, participants rated themselves and their interaction partner(s) on a set of behaviors and then made attributions about the causes of those behaviors. The major findings were that (a) participants consistently favored some causal factors over others in explaining both their own and their partners' behavior, supporting the existence of generalized attributional styles; and (b) participants showed moderate self-partner and partner-partner agreement about behavior but virtually no agreement about the causes of behavior. Thus, in brief interactions people tend to see themselves and others through the lens of their stable patterns of perceiving and interpreting behavior.
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U2 - 10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.334
DO - 10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.334
M3 - Article
C2 - 14769088
AN - SCOPUS:1342303763
SN - 0022-3514
VL - 86
SP - 334
EP - 344
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
IS - 2
ER -