Dennis T. Regan

On the consistency between attitudes and behavior: Look to the method of attitude formation

Abstract A field study and a laboratory experiment were conducted to test the hypothesis that the method by which an attitude was formed is a crucial variable affecting attitude-behavior consistency. It was predicted that people who form their attitudes on the basis of direct behavioral interaction with the attitude object will demonstrate significantly greater attitude-behavior consistency than individuals whose attitudes were formed by other means. In the field study, students with direct prior experience with a housing crisis demonstrated greater consistency between their attitudes and behavioral attempts to alleviate the crisis than did students with similar attitudes but without prior direct experience. In the laboratory experiment, subjects who indicated their attitude toward a variety of puzzle types after working examples of each demonstrated greater consistency between these attitudes and subsequent behavior in a free play situation than subjects with similar attitudes formed on the basis of information given by the experimenter. It was suggested that direct behavioral experience produces an attitude which is more clearly, confidently, and stably maintained than an attitude formed through more indirect means.

Empathy and Attribution: Turning Observers Into Actors

A laboratory experiment was conducted to test Jones and Nisbetts information-processing explanation of the often-observed tendency for individuals (actors) to provide relatively more situational and less dispositional causal attributions for their behavior than those provided by observers of the same behavior. According to this explanation, aspects of the situation are phenomenologically more salient for actors, whereas characteristics of the actor and his behavior are more salient for observers. To test this explanation, the phenomenological perspective of observers are altered without making available any additional information. Subjects watched a videotape of a get-acquainted conversation after instructions either to observe a target conversant or to empathize with her. As predicted, taking the perspective of the target through empathy resulted in attributions that were relatively more situational and less dispositional than attributions provided by standard observers. The results support Jones and Nisbetts information-processing explanation of actor-observer attributional differences, and shed additional light on the process of empathy.

The evolution of one-shot cooperation: An experiment

Abstract Can people rationally advance their own material interests by cooperating in one-shot prisoners dilemmas, even when there is no possibility of being punished for defection? We outline a model that describes how such cooperation could evolve if the presence of a cooperative disposition can be discerned by others. We test the models key assumption with an experiment in which we find that subjects who interacted for thirty minutes before playing one-shot prisoners dilemmas with two others were substantially more accurate than chance in predicting their partners decisions.

Effects of a favor and liking on compliance

Abstract A laboratory experiment was conducted to examine the effects of a favor and of liking on compliance with a request for assistance from a confederate. Liking for the confederate was manipulated, and male subjects then received a soft drink from the confederate, from the experimenter, or received no favor. Compliance with the confederates request to purchase some raffle tickets was measured, as was liking for the confederate. The results showed that the favor increased liking for the confederate and compliance with his request, but the effect of manipulated liking was weak. Detailed ratings of the confederate as well as correlational data suggested that the relationship between favors and compliance is mediated, not by liking for the favor-doer, but by normative pressure to reciprocate.

Motivated Reasoning and Performance on the was on Selection Task

People tend to approach agreeable propositions with a bias toward confirmation and disagreeable propositions with a bias toward disconfirmation. Because the appropriate strategy for solving the four-card Wason selection task is to seek disconfirmation, the authors predicted that people motivated to reject a task rule should be more likely to solve the task than those without such motivation. In two studies, participants who considered a Wason task rule that implied their own early death (Study 1) or the validity of a threatening stereotype (Study 2) vastly outperformed participants who considered nonthreatening or agreeable rules. Discussion focuses on how a skeptical mindset may help people avoid confirmation bias both in the context of the Wason task and in everyday reasoning.

Liking and the attribution process

Abstract Two experiments were performed to examine the influence of liking on causal attributions of another persons behavior. In both experiments, observers who either liked or disliked an actor were asked to attribute the actors behavior to personal or situational factors. In the first experiment, liking for a stranger was manipulated, and the behavior to be attributed was the strangers performance on a task requiring skill; in the second experiment, observers provided attributions for the prosocial behavior of an actual acquaintance who was either liked or disliked. Both experiments supported the hypothesis that actions which are consistent with affect for the actor (good actions by liked actors, bad actions by disliked actors) are attributed internally, to characteristics of the actor, while actions inconsistent with affect for the actor are attributed externally, to situational factors. The implications of these results for processes of person perception, including the ascription of trait characteristics to others, were discussed.

Regrets Of Action And Inaction Across Cultures

When looking back on their lives, people in the United States tend to regret things they failed to do more than things they did. But is this tendency universal across cultures, or is it the product of the Wests obsession with action and self-actualization? To address this question, the authors conducted five studies in three cultures thought to be less individualistic than the United States-China, Japan, and Russia. Respondents in all three cultures tended to regret-like their counterparts in the United States-inactions more than actions in the long term. Nor did the types of regrets reported by participants in these cultures-overwhelmingly involving the self exclusively rather than the social group-differ from the regrets reported by U.S. samples. These data support the universality of the tendency for inaction to generate greater long-term regret than action.

Distraction and Attitude Change: A Resolution.

Abstract Previous studies have shown that distraction may either increase or decrease attitude change. The present experiment, designed to reconcile earlier findings, was based on the hypothesis that distraction should interfere with message reception but also increase yielding to the message. Distraction should thus increase attitude change to a simple message (one which is easily understood but not very convincing), but decrease attitude change to a complex message (one which is difficult to understand but convicing if understood). Subjects beard messages on two topics, sometimes while distracted by a tape recording of music and sometimes not. Message complexity was successfully manipulated for one of the topics. The results support a model of attitude change which considers the effects of independent variables on both reception and yielding.

Attributional Focus as a Determinant of Information Selection

Summary An experiment tested the hypothesis that, in seeking a causal attribution for an observed effect, people prefer different types of information depending on their attributional focus. One hundred and fifty-two college Ss read brief descriptions of simple actions. Attributional focus was manipulated through instructions to determine either whether the effect was caused by something about the actor (person focus), something about the entity involved (object focus), or something about the particular circumstances (circumstance focus). Ss then selected from three types of information that most useful for arriving a t an attribution. The information types offered were distinctiveness (whether the actor behaved similarly toward other objects), consensus (whether other people behaved similarly toward the object mentioned), and consistency (whether the actor responded similarly to the object on past encounters). As predicted, Ss focused on the person preferred distinctiveness information, those focused on ...

What People Say and What They Do: The Differential Effects of Informational Cues and Task Design

Abstract Do ratings of tasks accurately reflect the influences on peoples choices of tasks? Does information from others have strong effects on attitudes toward tasks, but weak effects on task choices? What effect does direct experience with tasks designed to be stimulating or dull have on task ratings and task choices? To answer these questions, we collected data from 24 male and female undergraduates who individually worked on four tasks involving the analysis of cartoons. Informational cues and task design were cross-cut so that each task was either enriched or unenriched and received either positive or negative cues. Subjects rated the tasks on scales that measured how motivating each task was perceived to be, and how interesting and enjoyable each task was. Then subjects worked on a freely chosen sequence of tasks for 10 min. Cues had significant main effects on task ratings, but not on overall choice of tasks. Task design had no main effect on ratings, but did significantly affect overall choices. These results suggest that behavioral choices are determined more by direct experience with tasks than by information provided by others.