TY - JOUR
T1 - Fundamental(ist) attribution error
T2 - Protestants are dispositionally focused
AU - Li, Yexin Jessica
AU - Johnson, Kathryn
AU - Cohen, Adam
AU - Williams, Melissa J.
AU - Knowles, Eric D.
AU - Chen, Zhansheng
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - Attribution theory has long enjoyed a prominent role in social psychological research, yet religious influences on attribution have not been well studied. We theorized and tested the hypothesis that Protestants would endorse internal attributions to a greater extent than would Catholics, because Protestantism focuses on the inward condition of the soul. In Study 1, Protestants made more internal, but not external, attributions than did Catholics. This effect survived controlling for Protestant work ethic, need for structure, and intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Study 2 showed that the Protestant-Catholic difference in internal attributions was significantly mediated by Protestants' greater belief in a soul. In Study 3, priming religion increased belief in a soul for Protestants but not for Catholics. Finally, Study 4 found that experimentally strengthening belief in a soul increased dispositional attributions among Protestants but did not change situational attributions. These studies expand the understanding of cultural differences in attributions by demonstrating a distinct effect of religion on dispositional attributions.
AB - Attribution theory has long enjoyed a prominent role in social psychological research, yet religious influences on attribution have not been well studied. We theorized and tested the hypothesis that Protestants would endorse internal attributions to a greater extent than would Catholics, because Protestantism focuses on the inward condition of the soul. In Study 1, Protestants made more internal, but not external, attributions than did Catholics. This effect survived controlling for Protestant work ethic, need for structure, and intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Study 2 showed that the Protestant-Catholic difference in internal attributions was significantly mediated by Protestants' greater belief in a soul. In Study 3, priming religion increased belief in a soul for Protestants but not for Catholics. Finally, Study 4 found that experimentally strengthening belief in a soul increased dispositional attributions among Protestants but did not change situational attributions. These studies expand the understanding of cultural differences in attributions by demonstrating a distinct effect of religion on dispositional attributions.
KW - Attribution
KW - Belief in a soul
KW - Cultural differences
KW - Religious differences
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U2 - 10.1037/a0026294
DO - 10.1037/a0026294
M3 - Article
C2 - 22082060
AN - SCOPUS:84861156443
SN - 0022-3514
VL - 102
SP - 281
EP - 290
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
IS - 2
ER -