Explaining Own and Others' Behavior in a Controversial Issue: Animal experimentation

AB Kemdal, H Montgomery

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The authors investigated how 2 groups with different attitudes toward animal experimentation-researchers who conducted animal experiments and members of animal welfare organizations who protested against animal experiments--made attributions for the behavior of the opposing group. The 2 groups showed an actor--observer effect, mentioning more internal causes for the opponents' behavior and more external causes for their own behavior. Both groups were able to take the other's perspective, resulting in a reversed actor-observer effect. The less involved participants followed the pattern of ratings of the group whose attitudes corresponded to their own. In particular, the participants with a negative attitude toward animal experimentation rated researchers' behavior as more internally caused than did those with a positive attitude. The results illustrated how the participants formed and defended attitudes in a social context.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)693-713
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Social Psychology
Volume141
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2001-Dec-01
Externally publishedYes

Swedish Standard Keywords

  • Psychology (501)

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Ethics
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Male
  • Animal Welfare
  • Attitude
  • Social Identification
  • Social Perception

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