Differentiating explanations of attitude‐consistent behavior: The role of perspectives and mode of perspective taking

Abstract

We examined whether participants could differentiate between explanations of attitude-consistent behavior related to EU membership given from two perspectives (EU supporter and EU opponent) by means of three perspective taking modes (the explainer's own perspective, imagined in-group members' perspective, and imagined out-group members' perspective). Participants were presented with explanations provided from different perspectives and perspective taking modes, and they were asked to judge the extent to which they agreed with each explanation, to guess the attitude of the provider of each explanation, and to rate the quality of each explanation in various respects. Participants could not differentiate between explanations given by in-group members and out-group members who imagined the same perspective. They responded more favorably to explanations given from own perspective than from the imagined perspectives. The results suggest that there exists a shared understanding about how both sides should explain attitude-consistent behavior, but this understanding is measurably different from the actual explanations.

Actor-observer asymmetries in explanations of behavior: New answers to an old question.

“…The method is admittedly time consuming, requires training, and demands rigorous coder reliability, but training resources and several data sets are available in the public domain (Malle, 1998/2007). So far the system has been applied successfully in several languages besides English, such as Latvian and Japanese (Dimdins et al, 2005; Teramae & Karasawa, 2007), and it can be used in simplified form for specific research questions (Levi & Haslam, 2005). The strong pairing of theory and method in the folk-conceptual approach also promises to capture data in a wide variety of contexts, many of which would not be amenable to scale-based measurement.…”

“…The strong pairing of theory and method in the folk-conceptual approach also promises to capture data in a wide variety of contexts, many of which would not be amenable to scale-based measurement. Indeed, the folk-conceptual approach has been applied to perceptions of nonhuman agents (Kiesler et al, in press), medical conversations (Knight & Rees, in press), negotiations (Sinaceur, 2007), restorative justice (Nelson, 2003), and intergroup perception and conflict (Dimdins et al, 2005; Teramae & Karasawa, 2007).…”

“…In the present studies, free-response explanations were coded using the comprehensive F.Ex coding scheme (Malle, 1998/2007), which classifies explanations both in the terms of the folk-conceptual theory of explanation and in the terms of traditional attribution theory. It has been used in previous research projects (Dimdins, Montgomery, & Austers, 2005; Kiesler, Lee, & Kramer, in press; Knight & Rees, in press; Levi & Haslam, 2005; Malle, 1999; Malle et al, 2000; O'Laughlin & Malle, 2002) and has shown good reliability and predictive validity.…”

Psychology in Latvia

“…In a series of studies initiated at the University of Stockholm and continued at the University of Latvia, Austers, Dimdinš, and Montgomery (Austers, 2002a, 2002b; Dimdinš & Montgomery, 2004; Dimdinš, Montgomery, & Austers, 2003, 2005) extended the concepts and methods of modern social cognition research to the interethnic situation in Latvia. The concern of this team of authors was with the simultaneous and systematic investigation of several independent variables.…”