title: A posteriori information effects on culpability judgments from a cross-cultural perspective.
abstract: A posteriori information about the moral attributes of the victim of a crime can affect an observer's judgment on the culpability of the actor of the crime so that negative moral attributes of the victim will lead to a lower judgment of culpability. The authors found this effect of a posteriori information among 118 American and 123 Chinese participants, but the underlying mechanisms were different between the two cultural groups. The Americans considered the psychological state of the actor during the crime, whereas the Chinese considered the morality of the actor during the crime. The authors discussed these results in light of the respondents' implicit theories of morality.
authors.affiliation: University of Hong Kong, China. wewan@staff.bond.edu.au
authors.forename: Wendy W N
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Chi-Yue
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Chung-Leung
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Luk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D003210:Concept Formation; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D030881:Disclosure; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D009014:Morals; D009519:New York City; D011593:Psychology, Social; D014495:Universities; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*