Causal chains: Attribution of responsibility as a function of immediate and prior causes.

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Abstract
72 male and 72 female undergraduates each read an insurance company accident report in which the immediate cause of the accident (internal or external to the driver), the prior cause of the cause (internal, external, or none specified), and the particular accident (4 versions) were experimentally manipulated. A prior cause opposite to the immediate cause reversed the effects of the immediate cause. Internal causes were more diagnostic of the likelihood of an accident than external causes. In internal chains, immediate causes were rated as more important, while in external chains prior causes were rated as more important. Since the effects of internal and external immediate causes can be canceled by specifying opposite prior causes, it is suggested that the question of internal-external attribution has an ambiguity whose resolution depends in part on how far back in time the chain is traced. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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