Naive causal understanding of valenced behaviors and its implications for social information processing.

Research findings are reviewed in support of the idea that people possess naive theories of the causes of valenced behaviors, and the analysis is extended to establish how these sense-making tendencies affect the manner in which people approach and process information about others.

Abstract

People bring to bear on their understanding of others' behaviors naive theories of the causes of valenced behaviors. Generally, positive behaviors are understood to be caused by social demands, whereas negative behaviors are understood to be caused by people's dispositions. Various research findings are reviewed in support of the idea that people possess such naive theories. The analysis is extended to establish how these sense-making tendencies affect the manner in which people approach and process information about others. A second set of studies is reviewed in support of these implications for person perception. Comparisons to other models of social inference are considered, implications of the frame-work are examined, and the framework is situated within a general model of the attribution process.