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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
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On Attributing Negative Motives to Others Who Disagree With Our Opinions

Glenn D. Reeder

John B. Pryor

Illinois State University

Michael J. A. Wohl

Carleton University

Michael L. Griswell

Illinois State University

The research explores the tendency for people to attribute negative motives to others who hold an attitude position that is discrepant from their own. In Studies 1 and 2, American and Canadian respondents indicated their perceptions of U.S. President Bush’s motives for initiating war in Iraq. Consistent with the proposed bias, respondents who disagreed with the war attributed more selfish motivations than did those who supported the war. Study 3 revealed a similar bias when respondents rated the motives of the general citizenry concerning their attitudes about the war, and Study 4 provided evidence of the bias on different attitudinal issues (e.g., abortion and gay marriage). Study 4 also indicated that biased attributions of motive were primarily confined to respondents who were highly involved in the attitude issue. Discussion centers on naïve realism, social identity concerns, and attitude justification as relevant underlying theoretical factors.

Key Words: interpersonal perception • attribution • ingroup • outgroup • egocentrism • intention • motive

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 11, 1498-1510 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167205277093
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Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol BullHome page
K. A. Kennedy and E. Pronin
When Disagreement Gets Ugly: Perceptions of Bias and the Escalation of Conflict
Pers Soc Psychol Bull, June 1, 2008; 34(6): 833 - 848.
[Abstract] [PDF]