Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-hzqq2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-29T22:16:45.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Talking to others: The importance of responsibility attributions by observers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2018

Stefanie Hechler  and
Thomas Kessler
Stefanie Hechler
Affiliation:
Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, 07743 Jena, Germany. thomas.kessler@uni-jena.de stefanie.hechler@uni-jena.de http://www.sozialpsychologie.uni-jena.de
Thomas Kessler
Affiliation:
Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, 07743 Jena, Germany. thomas.kessler@uni-jena.de stefanie.hechler@uni-jena.de http://www.sozialpsychologie.uni-jena.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This commentary extends Doris's approach of agency by highlighting the importance of responsibility attributions by observers. We argue that (a) social groups determine which standards are relevant and which actors are responsible, (b) consensus about these attributions may correct individual defeaters, and (c) the attribution of moral responsibility reveals agency of observers and may foster the actors' agency.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Balliet, D., Mulder, L. B. & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2011) Reward, punishment, and cooperation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 137(4):594–615. doi:10.1037/a0023489.Google Scholar
Baron, J. & Spranca, M. (1997) Protected values. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 70:1–16. doi:10.1006/obhd.1997.2690.Google Scholar
Berthold, A., Mummendey, A., Kessler, T., Luecke, B. & Schubert, T. (2012) When different means bad or merely worse. How minimal and maximal goals affect ingroup projection and outgroup attitudes. European Journal of Social Psychology 42:682–90. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1878.Google Scholar
Cialdini, R. B. & Goldstein, N. J. (2004) Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology 55:591–621. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142015.Google Scholar
Darley, J. M., Carlsmith, K. M. & Robinson, P. H. (2000) Incapacitation and just deserts as motives for punishment. Law and Human Behavior 24(6):659–83. doi:10.1023/A:1005552203727.Google Scholar
Durkheim, É. (1893/1996) Über soziale Arbeitsteilung: Studie über die Organisation höherer Gesellschaften, 2nd edition. Suhrkamp. (Original work published in 1893.) Google Scholar
Feinberg, J. (1965) The expressive function of punishment. The Monist 49:397–423. doi:10.5840/monist196549326.Google Scholar
Fritsche, I., Kessler, T., Mummendey, A. & Neumann, J. (2009) Minimal and maximal goal orientation and reactions to norm violation. European Journal of Social Psychology 39:3–21. doi:10.1002/ejsp.481.Google Scholar
Hechler, S. (2016) Cooperation in social groups: Reactions to (moral) deviants (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Jena, Germany.Google Scholar
Hechler, S., Neyer, F. & Kessler, T. (2016) The infamous among us: Enhanced reputational memory for uncooperative ingroup members. Cognition 157:1–13. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.08.001.Google Scholar
Kessler, T. & Cohrs, J. C. (2008) The evolution of authoritarian processes: How to commit group members to group norms. Group Dynamics Theory, Research, and Practice 12:73–84. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.12.1.73.Google Scholar
Kessler, T., Neumann, J., Mummendey, A., Berthold, A., Schubert, T. & Waldzus, S. (2010) How do we assign punishment? The impact of minimal and maximal standards on the evaluation of deviants. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36:1213–24. doi:10.1177/0146167210380603.Google Scholar
Marques, J. M., Abrams, D., Paez, D. & Martinez-Taboada, C. (1998) The role of categorization and in-group norms in judgments of groups and their members. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75(4):976–88. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.976.Google Scholar
Miller, R. L., Brickman, P. & Bolen, D. (1975) Attribution versus persuasion as a means for modifying behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31(3):430–41. doi:10.1037/h0076539.Google Scholar
Millikan, R. G. (2000) On clear and confused ideas: An essay on substance concepts. Cambridge studies in philosophy. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511613296.Google Scholar
Onu, D., Smith, J. & Kessler, T. (2015) Intergroup emulation: An improvement strategy for lower-status groups. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 18:210–24. doi: 10.1177/1368430214556698.Google Scholar
Onu, D., Kessler, T. & Smith, J. (2016a) Admiration: A conceptual review of the knowns and unknowns. Emotion Review 8(3):1–13. doi:10.1177/1754073915610438.Google Scholar
Onu, D., Kessler, T., Smith, J. R., Andnovskia-Trajkovska, Fritsche, I., Midson, G. R. & Smith, J. R. (2016b) Inspired by the outgroup: A social identity analysis of intergroup admiration. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 19:713–31. doi:10.1177/1368430216629811.Google Scholar
Pauer-Studer, H. & Velleman, D. J. (2011) Distortions of normativity. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14:329–56. doi:10.1007/s10677-010-9246-7.Google Scholar
Peters, K. & Kashima, Y. (2007) From social talk to social action: Shaping the social triad with emotion sharing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93(5):780–97. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.780.Google Scholar
Pinto, I. R., Marques, J. M., Levine, J. M. & Abrams, D. (2010) Membership status and subjective group dynamics: Who triggers the black sheep effect? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99(1):107–19. doi:10.1037/a0018187.Google Scholar
Sassenberg, K., Moskowitz, G. B., Fetterman, A. & Kessler, T. (2017) Priming creativity as a strategy to increase creative performance by facilitating the activation and use of remote associations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 68:128–38. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2016.06.010.Google Scholar
Strawson, P. F. (1962) Freedom and resentment. Proceedings of the British Academy 48:1–25.Google Scholar
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D. & Wetherell, M. S. (1987) Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Blackwell.Google Scholar