Attributions as Behavior Explanations: Toward a New Theory

Attribution theory has played a major role in social-psychological research. Unfortunately, the term attribution is ambiguous. According to one meaning, forming an attribution is making a dispositional (trait) inference from behavior; according to another meaning, forming an attribution is giving an explanation (especially of behavior). The focus of this paper is on the latter phenomenon of behavior explanations. In particular, I discuss a new theory of explanation that provides an alternative to classic attribution theory as it dominates the textbooks and handbooks—which is typically as a version of Kelley’s (1967) model of attribution as covariation detection. I begin with a brief critique of this theory and, out of this critique, develop a list of requirements that an improved theory has to meet. I then introduce the new theory, report empirical data in its support, and apply it to a number of psychological phenomena. I finally conclude with an assessment of how much progress we have made in understanding behavior explanations and what has yet to be learned

Troubling Signs for South African Democracy under the ANC

Thirteen years ago, South Africa underwent a peaceful transition from white minority rule to majority rule. Today, the country is a stable multiparty democracy. It has the largest and the most sophisticated economy in Africa, which generates almost 40 percent of all the wealth produced on the African continent south of the Sahara. The African National Congress government, which came to power in 1994, deserves credit for stabilizing the economy and returning it to a steady, albeit slow, growth path. The ANC's democratic record is less impressive. The government has transformed the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation into an ANC propaganda machine that has banned some of the government's most prominent critics from appearing on it. The culture of political correctness stifles public debate over the direction of South Africa's economic and social policies. Those who dare to criticize the government are often labeled as racist. Moreover, the ANC is considering new laws that would undermine judicial independence. It is increasingly apparent that the ANC wishes to dominate the social and institutional life of South Africa in the same way that it dominates the country's political life. Fortunately, the ANC continues to put great value on its international reputation and tends to be hypersensitive to international criticism. When the government does not act in accordance with the spirit of liberal democracy, members of international civil society groups, the diplomatic corps, and the business community should voice their concern. Constructive criticism could change the ANC's behavior and positively influence political developments in South Africa

Attention and Endogenous Framing

This paper develops a theory of framing in an intertemporal context with risky choices. We provide a unifying account of existing theories of focusing by allowing a decision maker to choose her frame such that her attention is either drawn to salient events associated with an option or to the expected utilities an option yields in different time periods. Our key assumption is that a decision maker can choose her frame in a self-serving manner. We predict that the selected frame induces overoptimistic actions in the sense that subjects underrate risk but overrate chances and accordingly reveal overoptimistic actions. Hence, our theory can explain phenomena such as excessive harmful consumption (smoking, unhealthy diet) and risky investments (enterpreneurship, lotteries, gambling). We also apply our theory to static lotteries and find that classical phenomena of decision making under risk (such as the Common Ratio Allais paradox) can be rationalized by our model. We provide experimental evidence to support our claims

How Do You Build a "Culture of Health"? A Critical Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities from Medical Anthropology.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Action Framework aims to "make health a shared value" and improve population health equity through widespread culture change. The authors draw upon their expertise as anthropologists to identify 3 challenges that they believe must be addressed in order to effectively achieve the health equity and population health improvement goals of the Culture of Health initiative: clarifying and demystifying the concept of "culture," contextualizing "community" within networks of power and inequality, and confronting the crises of trust and solidarity in the contemporary United States. The authors suggest that those who seek to build a "Culture of Health" refine their understanding of how "culture" is experienced, advocate for policies and practices that break down unhealthy consolidations of power, and innovate solutions to building consensus in a divided nation

Policing Norwegian Welfare: Disciplining and Differentiating within the Bottom Rungs

Policing is a disciplining means for using welfare services to govern welfare recipients towards a desired behaviour or goal. We apply Foucault’s (1977) definition of institutional discipline as a means for exploring how the distinctions made by state and local welfare authorities in Norway when policing recipients may take shape according to normative perceptions of ethnicity and deservingness. More particularly, we explore the regulating understandings and activities linked to the inclusion and exclusion of eligibility to welfare benefits and services and the form of the services offered. Our focus lies at the point of entry from the lowest tier of Norwegian welfare benefits (social assistance) into two semi-parallel and higher tiers promising more (higher benefits, better services). The tiers are represented by programmes that share aims, yet differ in reach: the 2004 Introduction Programme and the 2007 Qualification Programme. The Introduction Programme is an activation programme targeted at immigrants and refugees newly arrived to Norway. Its aim is to strengthen opportunities to participate in society and labour market, as well as to promote economic independence. The Qualification Programme is an activation programme that was explicitly modelled after the Introduction Programme, yet whose target group reaches more broadly to include long-term recipients of social assistance and those whose work ability is severely lowered. While both programmes have been premised on the need to transform participants from a status of passive welfare benefit recipients to active participants in qualifying measures and society, the target groups vary and it is this contrast that is our point of focus. We contrast the two policies at two ‘moments’ in the policy cycle: (1) policy framing (public and policymaker understandings/assumptions concerning the target group, the location of accountability for the marginal position of the policy recipient and the policy’s political/social goals); and (2) the shaping and formative structure of these policies (how the relevant policies came into existence and what they look like)

Exile the Rich!

The rich have two defining capabilities: independence from and command over others. These make being wealthy very pleasant indeed, but they are also toxic to democracy. First, I analyse the mechanisms by which the presence of very wealthy individuals undermines the two pillars of liberal democracy, equality of citizenship and legitimate social choice. Second, I make a radical proposal. If we value the preservation of democracy we must limit the amount of wealth any individual can have and still be a citizen of our polity

Lessons On Servingness From Mentoring Program Leaders At A Hispanic Serving Institution

Servingness is a multidimensional framework detailing how Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) – which enroll at least 25% Latinx students – can shift from merely enrolling to meaningfully serving students holistically. Critically examining how institutional structures facilitate or inhibit servingness is essential for improving institutional efforts focused on student success. Adding to a dearth of literature linking servingness and mentoring, we investigated mentoring program leaders’ visions for servingness, along with the strengths and challenges they experience towards serving and mentoring minoritized students. Secondary analysis of interviews with 11 leaders demonstrated that visions of servingness were rooted in promoting student-centered and equity-forward policies. Strengths included building belonging for minoritized students and implementing high-impact mentoring practices. Importantly, six structural challenges to servingness were identified, such as precarious or limited funding. These often unexplored viewpoints – from leaders on-the-ground – provide vital perspectives and actionable lessons to shift institutional structures in ways that better fulfill a public mission of servingness

ANTECEDENTS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PRICE PURCHASE DECISIONS

This paper analyses the commercial and sociodemographic antecedents of the importance of price in buyers’ decisions. The study uses ordinal regression in order to analyze the data obtained from a random sample of consumers of frequently purchased products; these consumers were surveyed in different stores. The results demonstrate that shopping enjoyment and brand loyalty have an influence over the importance of price. However, responsibility for shopping (purchase frequency) does not show a significant relationship. Furthermore, some interesting socio-demographic characteristics were found in the context of the study that can be analyzed in future researc

Being “in Control” May Make You Lose Control: The Role of Self-Regulation in Unethical Leadership Behavior

In the present article, we argue that the constant pressure that leaders face may limit the willpower required to behave according to ethical norms and standards and may therefore lead to unethical behavior. Drawing upon the ego depletion and moral self-regulation literatures, we examined whether self-regulatory depletion that is contingent upon the moral identity of leaders may promote unethical leadership behavior. A laboratory experiment and a multisource field study revealed that regulatory resource depletion promotes unethical leader behaviors among leaders who are low in moral identity. No such effect was found among leaders with a high moral identity. This study extends our knowledge on why organizational leaders do not always conform to organizational goals. Specifically, we argue that the hectic and fragmented workdays of leaders may increase the likelihood that they violate ethical norms. This highlights the necessity to carefully schedule tasks that may have ethical implications. Similarly, organizations should be aware that overloading their managers with work may increase the likelihood of their leaders transgressing ethical norms