Attributions and Discrimination

Abstract

This study examined the self-protective role of social attributions by comparing attributions made to the self, one's ethnic group and to factors external to oneself, and to one's ethnic group. Respondents were lower or middle-class White, Black, or Hispanic mothers living in Miami. When presented with the hypothetical case where they person-ally were successful in improving their employment status, all groups attributed success to the self. In the case of failure, the lower class Whites were the only group that attributed the failure to themselves personally; the middle-class Blacks attributed failure mainly to ethnic group membership (discrimination), the lower class Blacks to both group membership and factors external to individuals or groups, and the middle-class Whites exclusively to factors external to individuals or groups.

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