Causal explanations of defection:: a knowledge structure approach
Causal explanations of defection:: a knowledge structure approach
Two experiments examined the construct of causal knowledge structure (CKS) in a social setting. The content, memorial properties, and judgmental consequences of subjects' CKSs regarding the defection of either Soviet citizens to the United States or American citizens to the Soviet Union were assessed through open-ended causal accounts (Experiment 1), intrusions in free recall, unsolicited attributions, open-ended attributions, and personality ratings (Experiment 2). Subjects tended to attribute the defection of Soviets to hardships their country imposed on them and the defection of Americans to characteristics of their personality. Memory intrusions indicated that subjects tended to falsely recall "problems" that Soviets had with their country and falsely recall personality "problem's that Americans had. An asymmetry between memorial and attributional effects was observed: Although memory intrusions occurred almost exclusively when subjects recalled the information after a week rather than immediately, the CKS-based attributional pattern for Soviet versus American defectors was apparent both immediately and after a 1-week delay.
attribution
420–429
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Anderson, Craig
2ebab910-6a61-4468-ab36-aa880c0abd27
12 February 1992
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Anderson, Craig
2ebab910-6a61-4468-ab36-aa880c0abd27
Sedikides, Constantine and Anderson, Craig
(1992)
Causal explanations of defection:: a knowledge structure approach.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18 (4), .
Abstract
Two experiments examined the construct of causal knowledge structure (CKS) in a social setting. The content, memorial properties, and judgmental consequences of subjects' CKSs regarding the defection of either Soviet citizens to the United States or American citizens to the Soviet Union were assessed through open-ended causal accounts (Experiment 1), intrusions in free recall, unsolicited attributions, open-ended attributions, and personality ratings (Experiment 2). Subjects tended to attribute the defection of Soviets to hardships their country imposed on them and the defection of Americans to characteristics of their personality. Memory intrusions indicated that subjects tended to falsely recall "problems" that Soviets had with their country and falsely recall personality "problem's that Americans had. An asymmetry between memorial and attributional effects was observed: Although memory intrusions occurred almost exclusively when subjects recalled the information after a week rather than immediately, the CKS-based attributional pattern for Soviet versus American defectors was apparent both immediately and after a 1-week delay.
Text
Sedikides & Anderson, 1992
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 12 February 1992
Keywords:
attribution
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 511822
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/511822
ISSN: 0146-1672
PURE UUID: 7915fad3-e98a-4934-ac09-efa26c3002dd
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 04 Jun 2026 16:37
Last modified: 05 Jun 2026 01:37
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Craig Anderson
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
