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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
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Asymmetrical Attributions for Approach Versus Avoidance Behavior

Tobias Greitemeyer

Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, togre{at}psy.uni-muenchen.de

Bernard Weiner

University of California, Los Angeles, weiner{at}psych.ucla.edu

Five studies examined responsibility inferences and/or person and situation attributions in positively versus negatively valenced motivational contexts. In Experiment 1, participants received information about a teaching assistant who was promised a reward or threatened with a punishment when asked for compliance with a requested transgression. The teaching assistant was perceived as more responsible for complying given the positive than the negative incentive. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2 using different vignettes and incentives. Experiment 3 revealed that the effect of incentive valence on perceived responsibility for compliance remains significant when statistically controlling for perceived compliance rates. Experiment 4 then demonstrated that there are not only greater responsibility judgments given a positive than a negative incentive but also greater dispositional attributions. Finally, Experiment 5 revealed that a similar incentive valence effect is found in other appetitive versus aversive motivational contexts. Theoretical explanations of this phenomenon are discussed.

Key Words: attribution • compliance • responsibility • causation • incentive

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 29, No. 11, 1371-1382 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167203255766
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