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Capacity Responsibility in Social Evaluation

Ohio University

Teresa L. Davis

University of Florida

Negative social evaluations for undesirable behavior are usually forestalled if behavior was constrained by personal limitations and incapacities or external coercive pressures. A study was designed to demonstrate that social evaluations are based not only on the degree of constraint that exists in the immediate situation but also on responsibility for the process by which control was inhibited Capacity-development responsibility refers to responsibility for the development of an incapacitating characteristic such as depression, alcoholism, or neurosis, whereas capacity-activation responsibility refers to responsibility for the activation of an incapacity in situations where the incapacity may produce negative outcomes. Subjects were presented with a series of vignettes that varied capacity-development and capacity-activation responsibility, as well as the severity of the outcome that occurred. Each of these factors significantly influenced judgments of blame and punishment. The implications of capacity-development and capacity-activation responsibility for social judgment are discussed, as well as avenues for further research.

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