Explaining own and others' behavior in a controversial issue: animal experimentation.
The authors investigated how 2 groups with different attitudes toward animal experimentation-researchers who conducted animal experiments and members of animal welfare organizations who protested against animal experiments--made attributions for the behavior of the opposing group. The 2 groups showed an actor--observer effect, mentioning more internal causes for the opponents' behavior and more external causes for their own behavior. Both groups were able to take the other's perspective, resulting in a reversed actor-observer effect. The less involved participants followed the pattern of ratings of the group whose attitudes corresponded to their own. In particular, the participants with a negative attitude toward animal experimentation rated researchers' behavior as more internally caused than did those with a positive attitude. The results illustrated how the participants formed and defended attitudes in a social context.
Kemdal
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Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden. Anna.Blom-Kemdal@bet.hkr.se
Montgomery
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D000328:Adult; D000827:Animal Welfare; D001290:Attitude; D004989:Ethics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception