Outcome dependency: Attention, attribution, and attraction.

Abstract

Theoretical and empirical work on the processes by which we attribute dispositional characteristics to others has focused almost exclusively on how such processes proceed once the perceiver has been motivated to initiate them. The problem of identifying the factors which prompt the perceiver to engage in an attributional analysis in the first place has been relatively ignored, even though the influence of such factors may extend beyond the initiation of the causal analysis to affect the manner in which it unfolds and, ultimately, the form and substance of its conclusion. From the assumption that the function of an attributional analysis is effective control of the social environment, it was hypothesized that high outcome dependency upon another, under conditions of high unfamiliarity, is associated with the initiation of an attributional analysis as evidenced by increased attention to the other, better memory of the other's characteristics and behavior, more extreme and confidently given evaluations of the other on a variety of dispositional trait dimensions, and increased attraction to the other. These hypotheses were tested within the context of a study of heterosexual dating relationships in which men and women volunteers anticipated varying degrees of dependence upon another for their dating outcomes. The findings support the view that the data processing operations of the social perceiver—from attention to memory to attribution—are part of a unified whole and may be viewed as manifestations of an underlying motivation to predict and control the social environment.