Premium
Exploring Carers’ Judgements of Responsibility and Control in Response to the Challenging Behaviour of People with Intellectual Disabilities
Author(s) -
Williams Sophie,
Dagnan Dave,
Rodgers Jacqui,
Freeston Mark
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12146
Subject(s) - sympathy , attribution , psychology , anger , control (management) , judgement , social psychology , moderation , cognition , cognitive psychology , management , neuroscience , political science , law , economics
Background This study examines Weiner's recent cognitive emotional model which makes a distinction between judgements of control and responsibility and emphasizes the moderation of control by ‘mitigating’ factors. Method In response to four vignettes describing two conditions of control (high or low) and mitigating factors (present or absent), questionnaires rating judgements of responsibility and emotional responses (anger and sympathy) were completed by 52 care staff. Results Analysis of the data for sympathy demonstrated that attributions of control were moderated by communication ability and that the effect of control upon sympathy was mediated by the judgement of responsibility. Conclusions The data offer tentative support Weiner's account of the mitigation of control attributions in making responsibility judgements and their subsequent effects on emotional responses. Implications for research and clinical work are discussed.