Naive causal understanding of valenced behaviors and its implications for social information processing.

Full Abstract

People bring to bear on their understanding of others' behaviors naive theories of the causes of valenced behaviors. Generally, positive behaviors are understood to be caused by social demands, whereas negative behaviors are understood to be caused by people's dispositions. Various research findings are reviewed in support of the idea that people possess such naive theories. The analysis is extended to establish how these sense-making tendencies affect the manner in which people approach and process information about others. A second set of studies is reviewed in support of these implications for person perception. Comparisons to other models of social inference are considered, implications of the frame-work are examined, and the framework is situated within a general model of the attribution process.

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Author information

Author/s: Ybarra, Oscar (O);

Affiliation: Department of Psycholgoy, Research Center for Group Dynamics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1109, USA. oybarra(-atsign-)umich.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Psychological bulletin (Psychol Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-May; vol 128 (issue 3) : pp 421-41

Dates: Created 2002/05/10; Completed 2002/07/12; Revised 2005/11/16;

PMID: 12002696, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Behavior - physiology
Humans
Mental Processes - physiology

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