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Attributional biases among clinicians and nonclinicians
Author(s) -
Harari Oren,
Hosey Karen R.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198104)37:2<445::aid-jclp2270370244>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , social psychology , univariate , variance (accounting) , multivariate statistics , clinical psychology , statistics , mathematics , accounting , business
Presented 27 randomly chosen clinicians (psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) and 18 nonclinicians with a series of statements that describe deviant and nondeviant actor behavior and employ McArthur's (1972) social psychological constructs of emotion, action, and opinion. S s made a series of causal attributions of actor behaviors. Data were subjected to both univariate and multivariate analyses of variance. The data showed a clear dispositional attribution bias among both clinicians and nonclinicians across all stimulus statements. Further specific tests revealed that clinicians did not differ from each other or from nonclinicians in their attributions and that a significantly greater dispositional bias occurred with deviant actor behavior and in situations that featured actor actions over opinions over emotions. These results were discussed in terms of their theoretical implications and in terms of their applicability to clinical practice.