An experiment was conducted to investigate actor-observer differences in the perceptions of responsibility and freedom. The procedure involved an actor's administration of shock to another person for incorrect answers on a learning task. The other person exhibited either moderate distress or severe distress in conjunction with the administration of the shock. An observer located in the same physical setting watched the actor perform his behavior and the accompanying reaction by the other person. As predicted, observers attributed more responsibility and freedom to actors the more severe the consequence of their behavior, but actors attributed less responsibility and freedom to themselves the more severe the consequence of their behavior. The results for the observer are discussed in terms of processes of defensive attribution and societal control, while the results for the actor are discussed in terms of self-esteem protection.
A rapidly increasing number of studies have investigated perceived locus of control and have hnked this personahty variable to a variety of behaviors in both laboratory and real life situations (see Rotter, 1966, Lefcourt, 1966, 1972 for reviews) The concept of locus of control (Rotter, 1954(Rotter, , 1966 provides a useful means of measunng individual differences m the extent to which reinforcement is viewed as primarily a consequence of one's own behavior (internal locus of control) or as pnmanly a consequence of such forces as "chance," "fate," or "powerful others" (extemal locus of control). The present research was designed to examine the relationship between locus of control and the perception of choice.Do people exhibiting an internal locus of control typically perceive more choice m making their decisions than do people exhibiting an extemal locus of control? While evidence relative to this question is sparse, an assumption which is qmte pervasive m the hterature is that a sense of control implies high perceived choice (e.g., see Kelley, 1967; Lef court, 1973) Further, a recent study by Harvey and Hams (in press) found a positive correlation between perceived choice in making a decision and expectancy about feelings of internal control in the situation that would result from the decision. Thus, although this previous work was concemed mainly with perceived control as a momentary, situationally-produced expenence, it seems quite reasonable to expect that persons exhibiting an intemal orientation generally wiU perceive more choice in making their decisions than will persons exhibiting an extemal orientation. Given this possibihty, there may be other facets of the relationship between intemal-1 This researdi vsras supported by a grant from the Vanderbilt Research Cotmcil to the first author. TTie authors wish to express their app-ecdahon to Stephen I Abramowitz, Chnstme V. Abramowitz, and James M Gieastm for their helpful reading of an eailier version of this paper.
An experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses that both perceived choice and expectancy about feelings of internal control over own behavior in a future situation will be greater (a) when a decision involves positive options than when it involves negative options and (b) that perceived choice will be greater when there is a small difference in attractiveness of the outcomes of the options than when there is a large difference. The procedure involved asking male and female college students to make a selection from two types of visual stimulation. Subjects were led to believe that they would be exposed at a later time in the experiment to the type of stimulation they had selected. Information about the types of stimulation was varied in order to manipulate valence of the outcomes of the options and difference in attractiveness of the outcomes of the options. The results supported the hypothesis that both perceived choice and expectancy about feelings of internal control are greater when a decision involves positive options than when it involves negative options. The results also provided evidence for the predicted effect of difference in attractiveness upon perceived choice when the decision involved positive options but not when it involved negative options.
Two studies were undertaken to assess distributive justice development in lower-and middle-class children attending social-class-integrated schools.In Study 1, 28 middle-and 28 lower-class white children from kindergarten and third grade were given the Distributive Justice Scale and a vocabulary test. Results showed that regardless of grade, the lower class lagged behind the middle class in distributive justice development even when vocabulary was controlled. In Study 2, 32 middle-and 32 lower-class black children from kindergarten and third grade were given the same measures plus sociometric peer ratings. The results replicated Study 1. The peer ratings showed that lower-class children were chosen most often for negative sociometric questions. Implications are drawn for both distributive justice development and social class integration.
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