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The Politics of Causes: Mass Shootings and the Cases of the Virginia Tech and Tucson Tragedies
Author(s) -
Joslyn Mark R.,
HaiderMarkel Donald P.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00894.x
Subject(s) - blame , attribution , tragedy (event) , social psychology , politics , motivated reasoning , psychology , criminology , just world hypothesis , attribution bias , political science , law , psychiatry
Objective We employ theories of causal reasoning to understand attributions about the 2007 Virginia Tech and 2011 Tucson shootings. We argue that attributions stem from two motives: (1) a partisan motivation to perceive events consistent with party attachments, and (2) a drive to minimize the cognitive burdens associated with extensive reasoning processes. The latter motive is expected to produce a fundamental attribution bias: the least educated respondents attribute blame for the shootings to the individual assailant while the most educated attribute blame to environmental conditions. Methods We test hypotheses using 2007 and 2011 national surveys reported just after the shootings. Results Our findings suggest a major partisan divide on the causes of tragedy; Democrats believed social and political forces were responsible whereas Republicans blamed individual gunmen. Considerable differences between the least and most educated respondents were also discovered. Greater educational attainment was associated with environmental attributions. Finally, the analyses revealed that education had virtually no influence on Republican attributions, but enhanced Democrats’ penchant to blame the tragedy on environmental factors. Conclusion Our study highlights the utility of using motivational theories of causal attributions to understanding and modeling the cognitive processes involved in perceived causes about gun‐related tragedies.