Differences in Attribution of Responsibility by Police Recruits and Their Wives

Heider (1) proposed that responsibility for an action r.ust lie in the actor and/or his environment. Prytula, Whiteside, and Davidson ( 2 ) found that life experiences affect the extent to which a person is prone to emphasize the personal factors in attributing responsibility to a negative event. Shaver ( 4 ) indicated that individuals will attribute responsibility in a "defensive" manner if they believe they might find themselves in a similar situation. Rafky ( 3 ) suggested chat police wives experience anxiety over the potential dangers in their husbands' profession. To believe in the random occurrence of negative events could increase her anxiety, as it would imply that her husband could not avoid the potential harmful events that might arise in the execution of his duties. It would be more comforting to believe that people bring negative consequences on themselves, thus her husband could avoid them. She should, then, tend to hold others relatively more personally responsible for negative events with which they are associated. O n the other hand, a police recruit is usually unsure about his untested prowess and possibly anxious about making an error that could hurt someone or end his job or life. It would be more comforting for him to emphasize the relative contribution of environmental factors in the occurrence of negative events. He should therefore tend to hold others relatively less personally responsible for negative events with which they are associated. Indeed Prytula, et al. ( 2 ) found police recruits were more likely to emphasize environmental factors than were veteran police officers. In an ongoing longitudinal study of police in a community a total of 16 police recruits and their wives (ages 21 to 30 yr., Mdn 24 yr.) were administered 12 scenarios representing different negative outcomes ( 5 ) . Subjects were asked to decide the personal responsibility lwel of the acting agent in rhe scenario. Data supported the hypothesis as police wives ( M = 24.99, SD = 17.72) attributed (on a 41-point scale) more pcrsonal responsibility to others for their actions than did their husbands ( M = 22.20, SD = 17.01; F = 5.19, p < .03). The recruit seems more likely to consider the role of environmental factors in attributing responsibility while his wife is more likely to emphasize personal factors in the actor. REFERENCES 1. HEIDER, F. The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley, 1958. 2. PRYTULA, R. E., WHITESIDE, H. D., & DAVIDSON, P. I.. Police experience and the attribution of responsibilicy. Psychological Reports, 1975, 37, 1346. 3. RAPKY, D. My husband the cop. The Police Chief, 1974, August, 62-65. 4. SHAVER, K. G. Defensive attribution: effects of severity and relevance on the responsibility assigned for an accident. Journal of Personality and Sociul Psychology, 1970, 14, 101-113. 5. W H ~ S I D E , H. D. The assignment of responsibility, sanctionin behavior, and the attribution of emotion for a czegarive event: a methodologicaf and theoretical development. (Unpublished dissertation, Oklahoma State Univer., 1973) Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1973. (Order No. 75-8913) Accepted September 22, 1977.