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Description: Attributions of responsibility typically increase as outcome severity increases. In defensive attributions, similar others are assigned less responsibility in more severe instances. The current study utilized a child neglect paradigm to explore defensive attributions when the actor may be perceived as both perpetrator and victim. Participants read a newspaper article in which a parent left a child unattended in a hot car, with details based on participants' random assignment to one of four experimental conditions (outcome severity: mild vs severe; actor gender: male vs female). Results failed to support the defensive attribution hypothesis for attributions of controllability, responsibility, and blame. However, group differences based on actor-observer similarity of gender and parenting status were found for empathy, and empathy predicted social punishment.
Suggested Citation:
Hanson, B. L., Terrance, C. A., & Plumm, K. M. (2015). Parent as both perpetrator and victim: Blame
and punishment in a case of child neglect. [Electronic Version]. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice,
11(3), 162-184.
Keywords: defensive attributions; responsibility; blame; empathy; parenting role
Date: Nov 30, 2015 | File Size: 321.84 Kb | Downloads: 1645