Patrick Gosling

Denial of responsibility: a new mode of dissonance reduction.

Denial of responsibility as a mode of dissonance reduction and the conditions under which it is likely to occur were explored in 3 experiments. Two experiments tested and supported the hypothesis that following a counterattitudinal behavior, participants prefer the mode of reduction made available to them first, regardless of whether it is attitude change, trivialization, or denial of responsibility. The 3rd experiment tested and supported the hypothesis that denial of responsibility reduces the negative affective state induced by dissonance. The mechanism of denial of responsibility in dissonance reduction is discussed.

Italian and French teachers faced with pupil’s Academic Failure: The “Norm of Effort”

Abstract115 Italian and French teachers of high school and junior high school participated in a study aimed at investigating the impact of causal attribution on judgments of responsibility in case of academic failure of their pupils. Results support the attribution theory as conceptualized by Weiner (1986, 1995) and confirm the predictive utility of the theoretical model in Italian and French schools: Effort causal attribution of failure give rise to punitive strategies and ascription of responsibility to the pupils. The data therefore document cross-cultural differences concerning the responsibility ascription and behavioral consequences in terms of student’s assessment. Results are also discussed in terms of the role of social norms in school context.Résumé115 enseignants italiens et français ont participé a un étude ayant pour objectif d’examiner l’impact des attributions causales de l’échec sur leurs jugements de responsabilité et leurs prédictions de réussite à propos d’élèves qu’ils connaissent. Les résultats tendent à supporter le modèle du jugement de responsabilité avancé par Weiner (1986, 1995): aussi bien en Italie qu’en France, l’attribution de l’échec au manque d’effort entraîne une prédiction moins positive qu’une attribution au manque de capacités, et une attribution de la responsabilité de l’échec à l’élèves. Les résultats sont interprétés en terme de rôle des normes sociales dans le contexte scolaire.

Being a Hypocrite or Committed While I Am Shopping? A Comparison of the Impact of Two Interventions on Environmentally Friendly Behavior

Commitment and the hypocrisy paradigm are two models used to convince people to adopt proenvironmental behaviors. The aim of the present study is to compare the effect of those interventions with a delay between the intervention and the observation of the behavior as this has not been investigated yet. People in a Parisian supermarket were asked to commit themselves by signing a poster advocating the target behavior: no use of plastic bags (commitment condition). Some of them were also asked to remember past transgressions to arouse cognitive dissonance (hypocrisy condition). Attention was paid to whether participants took free plastic bags. Our results showed that participants in the commitment condition were more likely to change their behavior than the participants in the control condition and in the hypocrisy condition. In a final section, implications for the two models are discussed.

The attribution of success and failure: the subject/object contrast

Abstract160 secondary school teachers were administered questionnaires on attributions for success and failure in students familiar to them. Student profiles were obtained by a 2 (success or failure) x 2 (extreme or moderate grades) design. The list of attributions employs classic dimensions (internal/external), stable/unstable, controlable/non controlable) plus a new dimension (academic/non academic) shown to be relevant in two preliminary surveys. The results indicate an interaction between the two independent varables as a function of the internal/external dimension. Responses characterizing for success and failure reveal a specific dimension termed subject/object, that parallels the a-priori academic/non academic dimension.

Description vs explanation and academic evaluation

Abstract160 secondary school teachers were asked to do attributions for students they knew. The 2x2x2 design incorporated three independent variables: success vs failure, average vs extreme, and explanation vs description. In addition, teachers were asked to express their interest in the student and to indicate their willingness to be interviewed. The main hypothesis was that the effect of categories (success vs failure and of average vs extreme) on the attributions would be stronger in the case of explanation than in the case of description. The findings support predictions. The findings support these assumptions: the effect of success vs failure on the number of attributions and willingness to be interviewed, and the effect of average vs extreme on interest are stronger in the explanation condition than in the descriptive condition.

L'effet de l'ordre et du délai sur l'usage de trois modes de réduction de la dissonance cognitive: le changement d'attitude, la trivialisation et le déni de responsabilité

L�objectif de cet article est d�etudier l�effet de deux variables contextuelles, l�ordre de presentation des modes de reduction et le delai post-comportemental sur l�usage de trois modes de reduction : le changement d�attitude, la trivialisation et le deni de responsabilite. Dans ce dessein, nous avons utilise le paradigme de la soumission forcee. Plus precisement, nous mettions les participants en dissonance via un essai contre-attitudinal et la declaration de liberte. Puis, nous leur proposions deux modes de reduction en faisant varier systematiquement l�ordre de presentation ; aussitot ou 10 minutes apres la redaction de l�essai. Dans une premiere experimentation, c�etaient le changement d�attitude et la trivialisation qui etaient conjointement presentes, dans une deuxieme experimentation la trivialisation et le deni de responsabilite. Les resultats indiquent la presence d�un impact du delai sur l�usage de chacun des modes de reduction selon l�ordre de presentation de ces modes de reduction. Concernant le changement d�attitude, on observe que l�usage du changement d�attitude baisse avec le delai, quand il est propose en premier. Concernant la trivialisation et le deni de responsabilite, on observe que l�usage de ces deux modes de reduction est identique sans delai et avec delai quand ils sont proposes en premier, mais augmente significativement avec le delai quand ils sont proposes en second.