Citation

Greitemeyer T, Rudolph U. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2003; 33(5): 1069-1087.

Affiliation

Technische Universitat Chemnitz, Institut fur Psychologic D-09107 Chemnitz, Germany. E-mail: udo.rudolph@phil.tu-chemnitz.de

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01939.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to test Weiner's (1995) theory of responsibility, both in the domains of prosocial (help giving) and antisocial behavior (aggression). Experiment 1 revealed that for both behavioral domains, a positive relation exists between perceived controllability and anger, whereas a negative relation was found between controllability and sympathy. In addition, help giving is promoted by feelings of sympathy and inhibited by feelings of anger, and the reverse is true for aggression. However, the present results also reveal that for aggression, there is a direct influence of cognitions (perceived controllability) on behavioral reactions, whereas for help giving, cognitions have an indirect effect on behavior, mediated by emotions. Thus, for help giving, thoughts determine what we feel, and feelings determine what we do. In contrast, for aggression, an additional influence of thoughts on actions is present. Experiment 2, in which different scenarios were used, replicated this pattern of results.