Under the guise of an experiment on the perception of emotional cues, 72 undergraduate female Ss observed a peer (victim) participating in a pairedassociate learning task. The victim, as a result of making the usual errors, appeared to receive severe and painful electric shocks (negative reinforcement). In describing the suffering victim after these observations, Ss rejected and devalued her when they believed that they would continue to see her suffer in a 2nd session, and when they were powerless to alter the victim's fate. Rejection and devaluation were strongest when the victim was viewed as suffering for the sake of Ss ("martyr" condition). These results offer support for the hypothesis that rejection and devaluation of a suffering victim are primarily based on the observer's need to believe in a just world.

White university students participated in a study to investigate the impact of defendant race and empathetic induction on a subsequent juror decision‐making task. Participants read a passage involving a Black or a White defendant in a criminal case. They were subsequently induced to feel no empathy, low empathy, or high empathy for the defendant. When compared to participants in the low‐ and control empathy conditions, those in the high‐empathy condition reported greater target empathy, made attributions that were more situational, and assigned more lenient punishments. The results also indicate that group membership can moderate the impact of empathetic induction. When compared to the participants in the Black defendant condition, those in the White defendant condition reported greater target empathy, made attributions that were more situational, and assigned more lenient punishments. Implications for both empathy and judicial decision‐making research are discussed.

No abstract

Experiment 1 indicated that when the White supervisor's negative treatment of a Black subordinate was unconstrained, participant race had no impact on attributions. Conversely, when the treatment was constrained, Black participants reported greater racist attributions than did White participants. Experiment 2 indicated that when the supervisor reported no response or a minimal negative response (i.e., indicating that he did not support his actions) after his negative treatment of the Black subordinate, Black participants reported greater racist attributions than did White participants. Conversely, when the supervisor's negative treatment was followed by a more extreme negative response, participant race had no impact on attributions. Experiment 3 indicated that Black participants were less likely than White participants to perceive a minimal negative response as reflecting a White supervisor's lack of support for his negative actions. Conversely, participant race had no impact on attributions of a Black supervisor's negative actions.

No abstract

153 female undergraduates participated in 2 studies designed to investigate the effect of the desire to establish or maintain justice in a social situation (the need to believe in a just world) on altruistic behavior. In the 1st study, Ss who had experienced betrayal by 1 partner apparently attempted to identify with a more successful partner in another task. Rewarded Ss, however, made most effort to help a previously betrayed partner. In the 2nd study, when the opportunity to identify with a more successful partner or disassociate from a partner who had failed was prevented, the experimental hypotheses were supported: Ss who had been betrayed previously worked hardest for a partner who had been similarly betrayed, and partners who had been betrayed earlier elicited most work from all subjects in the experimental task.

No abstract

The present study used the Lost Letter Technique (LLT) to explore the use of personalized letters in assessing community attitudes in a large western metropolitan area. Response to one of the attitude issues was independently validated by subsequent election returns. Results confirm the usefulness of the LLT as a survey tool for sensitive social issues, even with a small sample size, when the envelopes are hand‐addressed and hand‐stamped and drop locations are carefully selected.