Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-11T22:24:42.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explanations by professional care staff, optimism and helping behaviour: an application of attribution theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Robert Sharrock ,
Andrew Day ,
Fara Qazi  and
Chris R. Brewin
Robert Sharrock*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Forensic Psychiatry, and MRC Social and Community Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Denis Hill Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Beckenham, Kent
Andrew Day
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Forensic Psychiatry, and MRC Social and Community Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Denis Hill Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Beckenham, Kent
Fara Qazi
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Forensic Psychiatry, and MRC Social and Community Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Denis Hill Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Beckenham, Kent
Chris R. Brewin
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Forensic Psychiatry, and MRC Social and Community Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London; Denis Hill Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Beckenham, Kent
*
1Address for correspondence: Robert Sharrock, Departments of Psychology and Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

It is demonstrated first that staff explanations of problem behaviour can be reliably coded using a modified form of the Attributional Style Questionnaire; and second, that staff explanations are related through staff optimism to anticipated helping behaviour. This supports the hypothesis that, in professional staff, an important determinant of helping is optimism arising from attributions of a patient's problems. The influence of affective judgements, as emphasized in Weiner's (1986) theory of helping behaviour, is not supported.

Type
Orginal Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 1990 , pp. 849 - 855
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P. & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 87, 49–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allen, C. I., Gillespie, C. R. & Hall, J. N. (1989). A comparison of practices, attitudes and interactions in two established units for people with a psychiatric disability. Psychological Medicine 19, 459–467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Batson, C. D., Duncan, B. D., Ackerman, P., Buckley, T. & Birch, K. (1981). Is emphatic emotion a source of altruistic motivation? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 40, 290–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batson, C. D., Dyck, J. L., Brandt, J. R., Batson, J. G., Powell, A. L., McMaster, M. R. & Griffith, C. (1988). Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy–altruism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55, 52–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, P. L., Dehority, J., Garmon, L., Hanson, E., Hochschwender, M., Lebold, C., Rohr, R. & Sullivan, J. (1980). Interpersonal correlates of non-spontaneous helping behavior. Journal of Social Psychology 110, 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkowitz, L. (1969). Reactance to improper dependence relationships. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology 5, 283–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blalock, H. M. (1979). Social Statistics, 2nd edn.McGraw-Hill: London.Google Scholar
Bluglass, R. (1985). The development of regional secure units. In Secure Provision: A Review of Special Services for the Mentally Ill and Mentally Handicapped in England and Wales (ed. Gostin, L.), pp. 153–175. Tavistock Publications: London.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R. (1984). Perceived controllability of life-events and willingness to prescribe psychotropic medication. British Journal of Social Psychology 23, 285–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewin, C. R. (1986). Strategies in the assessment and modification of causal attributions. In Behaviour Therapy: Beyond the Conditioning Framework, (ed. Eelen, P. and Fontaine, O.), pp. 234–252. Leuven University Press/Lawrence Erlbaum: Leuven.Google Scholar
Carlson, M. & Miller, N. (1987). Explanation of the relation between negative mood and helping. Psychological Bulletin 102, 72–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, M., Charlin, V. & Miller, N. (1988). Positive mood and helping behaviour: a test of six hypotheses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55, 211–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carver, C. S. (1989). How should multifaceted personality constructs be tested? Issues illustrated by self-monitoring, attributional style, and hardiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56, 577–585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dovidio, J. F. (1984). Helping behaviour and altruism: an empirical and conceptual overview. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 17 (ed. Berkowitz, L.), pp. 362–415. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1966). Path analysis: sociological examples. American Journal of Sociology 72, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Y. M. & Hornstein, H. A. (1969). Penalty and interpersonal attraction as factors influencing the decision to help another person. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 5, 272–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garety, P. A. & Morris, I. (1984). A new unit for long-stay psychiatric patients: organization, attitude and quality of care. Psychological Medicine 14, 183–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heider, F. (1958). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. John Wiley: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ickes, W. J. & Kidd, R. F. (1976). An attributional analysis of helping behaviour. In New Directions in Attributional Research, vol. 1 (ed. Harvey, J. H., Ickes, W. and Kidd, R.), pp. 311–334. Erlbaum: Hillsdale, N.J.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. P. & Mulherin, A. (1980). From attribution to helping: an analysis of the mediating effect of affect and expectancy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39, 201–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moores, B. & Grant, G. W. B. (1976). Nurse expectations for accomplishment of mentally retarded patients. American Journal of Mental Deficiency 80, 644–649.Google ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: theory and evidence. Psychological Review 91, 347–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C. & Villanova, P. A. (1988). The expanded attributional style questionnaire. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 97, 87–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C., Semmel, A., Baeyer, C., Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I. & Seligman, M. E. P. (1982). The attributional style questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research 6, 287–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piliavin, I. M., Rodin, J. & Piliavin, J. A. (1969). Good Samaritanism: an underground phenomenon? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 13, 289–299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qazi, F. (1989). An investigation of the attributions made by staff and clients in a residential assessment centre for young offenders. M.Sc. thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Reisenzein, R. (1986). A structural equation analysis of Weiner's attribution-affect model of helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50, 1123–1133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudestam, K. E., Richards, D. L. & Garrison, P. (1971). Effect of self-esteem on an unobtrusive measure of altruism. Psychological Reports 29, 847–851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, G. & Weiner, B. (1988). An attribution–affect–action theory of behavior: replications of judgements of help-giving. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 14, 610–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithson, M., Amato, P. R. & Pearce, P. (1983). Dimensions of Helping Behavior. Pergamon Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. D. (1983). Negative thinking in depression: cause, effect or reciprocal relationship? Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy 5, 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, B. (1980). A cognitive (attribution)–emotion–action model of helping behavior: an analysis of judgments of help giving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39, 186–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, B. (1986). An Attributional Theory of Motivation and Emotion. Springer-Verlag: Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wimer, S. & Kelly, H. H. (1982). An investigation of the dimensions of causal attribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43, 1142–1162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, J. K. & Brown, G. W. (1970). Institutionalism and Schizophrenia. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar