Age Relevance and Context Effects on Attributions across the Adult Lifespan

Abstract

Attributions for events with information varying on age relevance (teen, young, middle-aged, and older main characters) and context (family, work) were examined in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Participants rated the degree to which the causes of a negative outcome were a function of three dispositional dimensions of the primary character, two dimensions of situational factors, and a combination of these. They also wrote essays justifying their ratings. Overall and in support of previous research, older adults were more likely than younger adults to attribute the cause of the negative outcome to the primary character (Blanchard-Fields, 1994). This bias was not attenuated by the age-relevance factor. Instead, in the work context, older and middle-aged adults placed greater blame on main characters relevant to their age group for negative outcomes than did young adults. However, older adults were also more likely than middle-aged or young adults to attribute the cause of a negative outcome to situational factors. Age relevance and context influenced attributional ratings for all participants in that: (a) older characters were rated higher on external attributions and younger characters were rated higher on internal attributions; and (b) higher internal attributions were made for work situations than for family situations. Finally, young and middle-aged adults were more dialectical in justifying their causal attributions than older adults. Findings are discussed in terms of the degree to which a dispositional bias in older adults is influenced by the developmental relevance of one’s everyday context.