Nonverbal Expression of Effort as Causally Relevant Information

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Abstract
The effects of nonverbal effort cues on causal attributions were assessed. Subjects watched a videotape of an athlete running on an exercise treadmill. The athlete either succeeded or failed and was either expressive or nonexpressive. As hypothesized, expressive athletes were seen to exhibit more effort than nonexpressive athletes. More important, significant interactions showed that for failure conditions nonexpressive athletes were seen to have less ability and as more responsible for their failure than expressive athletes. Implications for attribution research, attribution theory, and self-presentation were discussed.

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