Judgments of Responsibility

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.

This book is a major achievement that extends Weiner's already impressive attribution theory of motivation in new directions. With pristine clarity it demonstrates how judgment of responsibility can be used to generalize theoretical principles derived from the study of achievement evaluation to a wide variety of behaviors. The result is a comprehensive theory of social conduct that is essential reading for anyone interested in human behavior. --Frank D. Fincham, Ph.D., FBPsS, University of Wales, CardiffProfessor Weiner has made a bold attempt to present a scientific analysis of the issues involved in assigning responsibility and blame. In contrast with traditional solutions, he argues that it is not blame but emotion (anger or sympathy) that mediates subsequent social behavior. Weiner's clear thinking and relevant empirical data bring a fresh and interesting perspective to highly significant and perennially debated social and moral issues. --Carroll E. Izard, Ph.D., Unidel Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware ...we pronounce the book good, judge it innocent of poor scholarship, and sentence it to having a long impact on research and theory on interpersonal judgment....this book is a significant read with enormous strengths and a provocative, testable point of view. It presents an important perspective that adds emotional and moral elements into our more cognitive models for judgments of others....accessible to a broad audience....the text is appropriate both for undergraduates and for graduate students and established academics tilling the fields of attribution processes. The book can serve as a wonderful teaching tool as the reader completes studies, gets personally involved, and therefore easily grasps the ideas and findings. --Kathryn C. Oleson and Robert M. Arkin, Contemporary Psychology- We pronounce the book good, judge it innocent of poor scholarship, and sentence it to having a long impact on research and theory on interpersonal judgment....This book is a significant read with enormous strengths and a provocative, testable point of view. It presents an important perspective that adds emotional and moral elements into our more cognitive models for judgments of others....The text is appropriate both for undergraduates and for graduate students and established academics tilling the fields of attribution processes. --Contemporary Psychology, 4/16/1995

• 1. The Anatomy of Responsibility2. Responsibility and Achievement Evaluation3. Responsibility and Stigmatization4. AIDS and Stigmatization5. Responsibility, Stigmatization, Mental Illness, and the Family6. Helping Behavior7. Aggression8. Reducing Inferences of Responsibility: Excuses and Confession9. On the Construction of Psychological Theory and Other Issues