Judgments of Responsibility: A Foundation for a Theory of Social Conduct - Hardcover

by Bernard Weiner (Author)

Presenting a general theory of social motivation, this compelling work integrates research on achievement evaluation, stigmatization, helping behavior, aggression, and impression management. Bernard Weiner examines how responsibility inferences are reached, the manner in which such judgments affect emotions, and the role that "cold" judgments of responsibility versus "hot" feelings, such as anger, play in producing both pro- and antisocial behaviors. Ideal for students as well as researchers and mental health practitioners, the book includes experiments for the reader to complete that illustrate the main points of the text.

Back Jacket

This intriguing new work provides a careful examination of how judgments of ourselves and others relate to problems and, in so doing, yields valuable insight into human interactions and motivational processes. Laying out a general theory of social motivation, the author incorporates a number of well-researched areas in social psychology and motivation to elucidate basic principles that guide human conduct across culture and time. Chapters reveal how responsibility inferences are reached, the manner in which such judgments affect emotions, and the role that "cold" judgments of responsibility versus "hot" feelings, such as anger, play in producing both positive and negative behaviors. The author demonstrates that the ways others are perceived influence the behaviors directed toward them, showing how attributions of personal causality are followed by judgments of responsibility. These inferences then give rise to other-directed emotions such as anger and sympathy which, in turn, generate antisocial and prosocial actions. Providing a conceptual system that permits readers a deeper understanding of motivational processes and suggests guidelines for more effective interventions, this book is insightful reading for a wide range of scholars.

Author Biography

Bernard Weiner, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. A leading contributor to the field of attribution theory, he has written, coauthored, or edited 13 books and published more than 125 journal articles and book chapters. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, his work has also been honored by a Donald Campbell Distinguished Research Award from the Division of Personality and Social Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Bielefeld, Germany.