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A priori vs. spontaneous models of attribution: The case of gender and achievement
Author(s) -
Sousa Elizabeth,
Leyens JacquesPhilippe
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1987.tb00791.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , causality (physics) , social psychology , semantic space , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science
This study aims to relate causal explanations for men's and women's achievements to implicit theories held about sex stereotypes. Two different methods were used: one following Weiner's two‐dimensional attribution model, and another expressed in terms of attributional semantic space. The classical analysis, in terms of locus of causality and stability, replicated previous results and did not show differences between male and female observers. However, the second method showed that men and women use different vocabularies and call up different representational elements when they have to explain male and female achievement. Further, whereas males discriminate the performance of another male from that of a female, females evaluate the performances of males and females similarly. The use of free responses under a spontaneous model is discussed. Although not without disadvantages, this method is more sensitive to the implicit theories of the judges than are the classical ones.