Do Beliefs and Attributional Complexity Influence Age Differences in the Correspondence Bias?

Abstract

The present study assessed the influence of personal beliefs and attributional complexity on the correspondence bias in young and older adults. Using the attitude–attribution paradigm, participants made judgments about a target's actual attitude based on an essay that was written by the target. The essay contained a position on a controversial social issue that the target was instructed to advocate. Replicating past research, older adults showed more extreme attitude attribution ratings than did young adults. Extending past research, personal beliefs were related to the extremity of attitude attributions for older adults, but not for young adults. Attributional complexity was also an important factor influencing the extremity of older adults' attitude attributions.