The triangle model of responsibility

Measuring personal beliefs and perceived norms about intimate partner violence: Population-based survey experiment in rural Uganda

BACKGROUND

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted throughout sub-Saharan Africa indicate there is widespread acceptance of intimate partner violence, contributing to an adverse health risk environment for women. While qualitative studies suggest important limitations in the accuracy of the DHS methods used to elicit attitudes toward intimate partner violence, to date there has been little experimental evidence from sub-Saharan Africa that can be brought to bear on this issue.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

We embedded a randomized survey experiment in a population-based survey of 1,334 adult men and women living in Nyakabare Parish, Mbarara, Uganda. The primary outcomes were participants' personal beliefs about the acceptability of intimate partner violence and perceived norms about intimate partner violence in the community. To elicit participants' personal beliefs and perceived norms, we asked about the acceptability of intimate partner violence in five different vignettes. Study participants were randomly assigned to one of three survey instruments, each of which contained varying levels of detail about the extent to which the wife depicted in the vignette intentionally or unintentionally violated gendered standards of behavior. For the questions about personal beliefs, the mean (standard deviation) number of items where intimate partner violence was endorsed as acceptable was 1.26 (1.58) among participants assigned to the DHS-style survey variant (which contained little contextual detail about the wife's intentions), 2.74 (1.81) among participants assigned to the survey variant depicting the wife as intentionally violating gendered standards of behavior, and 0.77 (1.19) among participants assigned to the survey variant depicting the wife as unintentionally violating these standards. In a partial proportional odds regression model adjusting for sex and village of residence, with participants assigned to the DHS-style survey variant as the referent group, participants assigned the survey variant that depicted the wife as intentionally violating gendered standards of behavior were more likely to condone intimate partner violence in a greater number of vignettes (adjusted odds ratios [AORs] ranged from 3.87 to 5.74, with all p < 0.001), while participants assigned the survey variant that depicted the wife as unintentionally violating these standards were less likely to condone intimate partner violence (AORs ranged from 0.29 to 0.70, with p-values ranging from <0.001 to 0.07). The analysis of perceived norms displayed similar patterns, but the effects were slightly smaller in magnitude: participants assigned to the "intentional" survey variant were more likely to perceive intimate partner violence as normative (AORs ranged from 2.05 to 3.51, with all p < 0.001), while participants assigned to the "unintentional" survey variant were less likely to perceive intimate partner violence as normative (AORs ranged from 0.49 to 0.65, with p-values ranging from <0.001 to 0.14). The primary limitations of this study are that our assessments of personal beliefs and perceived norms could have been measured with error and that our findings may not generalize beyond rural Uganda.

CONCLUSIONS

Contextual information about the circumstances under which women in hypothetical vignettes were perceived to violate gendered standards of behavior had a significant influence on the extent to which study participants endorsed the acceptability of intimate partner violence. Researchers aiming to assess personal beliefs or perceived norms about intimate partner violence should attempt to eliminate, as much as possible, ambiguities in vignettes and questions administered to study participants.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02202824.

The Psychology of Compensatory and Retributive Justice

How do observers respond when the actions of one individual inflict harm on another? The primary reaction to carelessly inflicted harm is to seek restitution; the offender is judged to owe compensation to the harmed individual. The primary reaction to harm inflicted intentionally is moral outrage producing a desire for retribution; the harm-doer tust be punished. Reckless conduct, an intermediate case, provokes reactions that involve elements of both careless and intentional harm. The moral outrage felt by those who witness transgressions is a product of both cognitive interpretations of the event and emotional reactions to it. Theory about the exact nature of the emotional reactions is considered, along with suggestions for directions forfuture research.

Excuses and Character: Personal and Social Implications of Excuses

Recent research has emphasized the effectiveness of excuses in protecting the self from the implications of failures and transgressions. The disadvantages of excuses have been relatively neglected. The triangle model of responsibility provides a conceptual framework to analyze how excuses disengage the self from events and the conditions under which advantages and disadvantages accrue. On the disadvantage side, excuse-makers risk being seen as deceptive, self-absorbed, and ineffectual; they are viewed as unreliable social participants with flawed character These undesired consequences result when excuses are used in ways that lower credibility (e.g., fail to receive corroboration), lower goodwill (e.g., blamefailures on team members), and produce long-term disengagement (e.g., lead to failures to correct personal deficiencies). It is proposed that excuses are effective in the long run only if they balance short-term disengagement of the self and long-term engagement. Excuses are especially problematic when used to disengage the self from important, recurring tasks.

Motivating Behavioral Persistence: The Self-As-Doer Construct

Why do some people persist in goal pursuit, even in the face of boredom or setbacks, whereas others quickly give up their goals? In this research, the authors introduce a new motivational construct, the “self-as-doer,” to explore this question. Studies 1 and 2 found longitudinal evidence that those who more strongly endorse doer statements regarding their goals (i.e., exerciser, dieter, runner) show greater behavioral persistence and attainment regarding such goals, even controlling for other relevant constructs such as expectancy, self-concordance, commitment, and neuroticism. Study 3 used priming to make the self-as-doer momentarily accessible, finding an interaction such that those who read The Little Engine That Could (vs. Curious George) and wrote an essay applying the story's message to themselves (vs. others) showed the greatest persistence in physically demanding tasks. Implications for sustained motivation of all kinds are discussed.

The Effect of Response Options on Decisions and Subsequent Behavior: Sometimes Inaction is Better

An active decision can result in more extreme self-inference than a passive decision. In the present study, however, induced inaction had the greatest effect on later behavior Students were asked to indicate their intentions about donating blood the following week. The rate of nonresponding to this request was highest when the only provided response option was to actively convey an intention not to donate, and the actual blood donation rate among these nonresponders was high. Recipients of this response option may have suspended a decision about donation, a suspension which in turn could have increased the probability of eventual donation through one or more social and self perceptual pathways. The behavioral effect of response option frames can be significantly modified by specific features of the request situation.

Self-Engagement, Stressors, and Health: A Longitudinal Study

The authors examined whether engagement in a performance domain could buffer or exacerbate the consequences of different stressors. Soldiers completed measures of engagement in work, work demands (days training, work hours, and subjective work overload), and symptoms at two time periods. Engagement in work interacted with days training and work hours at Time 1 to predict health symptoms at Time 2 (after controlling Time 1 outcomes). Soldiers highly engaged in their jobs were less likely to report negative consequences under high levels of training/work hours in comparison to soldiers disengaged from their jobs. However, engagement in work interacted with work overload in the opposite manner, with high levels of engagement potentiating the relationship between overload and reports of health symptoms. Engagement in a domain appears to buffer individuals from stressors that do not undermine performance but may exacerbate the impact of stressors that compromise performing well in the domain.

Engaging the Self in the Field: Testing the Triangle Model of Responsibility

This study tested the Triangle Model of Responsibility in predicting the experience and effects of self-engagement among U.S. Army soldiers. The different components of the Triangle Model independently predicted engagement in different samples. Furthermore, differences in engagement among units during a military operation were a function of the components of the model. Another study showed that soldiers’ perceptions of their leaders’ views of the components of the model predicted soldiers’ views of how much their leaders thought they were engaged in their job and that discrepancies between soldiers’ own views and their views of their leaders were related to lower trust and confidence in unit leaders. Finally, work-related experiences were more likely to be related to the psychological health of soldiers when they were engaged in their jobs than when they were disengaged. The results shed light on the role of self-engagement in the process of self-regulation.

An Attributional Analysis of Punishment Goals and Public Reactions to O. J. Simpson

Two studies examined the attributional determinants of punishment decisions. Study 1 investigated public reactions to 0. J. Simpson during the week following his arrest for the murder of his ex-wife. Respondents who believed Simpson was guilty were asked about their perceptions of the causes of his alleged crime, their affective reactions of anger and sympathy, how much punishment he should receive, and their endorsement of retributive and utilitarian punishment goals. In Study 2 college students made similar judgments about a hypothetical defendant accused of murder. Both studies support an attributional analysis of relations between causal controllability, stability, sympathy and anger, punishment severity, and specific punishment goals. Implications for attribution theory, as well as the distinction between retributive versus utilitarian punishment goals, are discussed.

Accountability for Consequential Decisions: Justifying Ethical Judgments to Audiences

College students believed that they were judges in a real cheating case (in actuality, it was fictitious) under adjudication by a student honor court. Participants recommended harsher punishment after being led to believe that they would explain their decisions in a face-to-face meeting with (a) an official from the honor court, as compared to a meeting with the student or no anticipated meeting (Experiment 1), or (b) the professor who brought the charge of cheating, as compared to a meeting with the student (Experiment 2). These effects occurred even when participants wrote their decisions after learning that the anticipated meeting was canceled. The salient audience thus seemed to induce shifts in perspective or evaluative orientation during decision making, and not simply reporting shifts designed to please the audience.

This Is How We Do It

“Necessary evils” require employees to psychologically or physically harm others to produce a perceived greater good. Employees can also help others during necessary evils tasks by providing assistance and support to those harmed. Through an inductive, qualitative study of human resources employees’ experiences carrying out downsizing, we explore how the perception of helping the person one has harmed relates to the harm-doer’s ability to withstand the challenges of having to carry out necessary evils. Our research culminates in a theoretical model showing that (a) seven kinds of stressors were associated with participants’ involvement in necessary evils tasks, (b) these stressors triggered a series of negative personal outcomes (negative self-focused emotions, emotional exhaustion, and intention to turnover), and (c) perceived prosocial impacts ameliorated these negative personal outcomes. We discuss the implications our findings for research and practice, address limitations of our study, and offer ideas for future research.

Integrating Social and Counseling Psychological Perspectives on the Self

Few areas present a more ideal opportunity for dialogue between counseling and social psychologists than the self Both disciplines have contributed significantly to the development of self theories and the design of methodologies suitable for understanding processes and practices relevant to the self However, counseling and social psychologists are finding it increasingly necessary to value and actively initiate interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration in order to prevent cognitive blind spots in understandings of the self In this article, the authors examine impediments to successful bridging of the disciplines and highlight areas ripe for interface within the arenas of professional training and development, theory, practice, methodology, metatheory, and epistemology. More specifically, the authors identify cultural, interpersonal, developmental, motivational, evaluative, regulatory, structural, and vocational aspects of the self that would benefit from collaborative inquiry. Throughout this article, the authors attempt to balance illustrations of the actual and potential applications of knowledge relevant to the self with calls to counseling and social psychologists to work together to ensure the relevance of their self analyses to diverse cultures.

An Integrated Model of Attribution of Responsibility for Wrongdoing in Organizations

Sociologists and psychologists have spent several decades attempting to improve our understanding of the factors that influence how people attribute responsibility for outcomes of social action, particularly wrongdoing. Members of two disciplines continue to refine Heider's seminal work in distinct ways, but have not developed a definitive test of attribution of responsibility (AOR) because of the ad hoc nature of existing research. To move towards a definitive test of AOR, we propose an integrated AOR model that is especially well suited to a neglected substantive concern: wrongdoing within organizations. In constructing our integrated model, we synthesize insights from the sociological and psychological research on AOR, while also incorporating concepts from organizational studies. An integrated model has the potential to provide a more stringent test of AOR in cases of organizational wrongdoing, which would move the field beyond its current stagnation and would carry important legal implications.

Development of the Personal Responsibility Scale for adolescents

Increasing interest by policy makers and educators in enhancing the non-cognitive factors that impact on the wellbeing of young people across the school years requires valid and reliable measurement scales. This paper reports the psychometric development of the Personal Responsibility Scale drawing on a preliminary 34-item measure developed using data from focus groups with secondary students in Australia. This scale was then administered to 513 students across Years 9-12. Exploratory factor analysis identified three factors, 'personal accountability', 'behavioural and emotional control', and 'cognitive control'. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the congeneric measurement models for these factors. The multidimensional nature of the personal responsibility construct was then examined through multilevel confirmatory factor analysis. These analyses supported a three-factor structure to propose a final 15-item scale. Additional validation requirements, future research possibilities, and implications of this study are addressed.

Causal Conceptions in Social Explanation and Moral Evaluation: A Historical Tour

Understanding the causes of human behavior is essential for advancing one's interests and for coordinating social relations. The scientific study of how people arrive at such understandings or explanations has unfolded in four distinguishable epochs in psychology, each characterized by a different metaphor that researchers have used to represent how people think as they attribute causality and blame to other individuals. The first epoch was guided by an "intuitive scientist" metaphor, which emphasized whether observers perceived behavior to be caused by the unique tendencies of the actor or by common reactions to the requirements of the situation. This metaphor was displaced in the second epoch by an "intuitive lawyer" depiction that focused on the need to hold people responsible for their misdeeds. The third epoch was dominated by theories of counterfactual thinking, which conveyed a "person as reconstructor" approach that emphasized the antecedents and consequences of imagining alternatives to events, especially harmful ones. With the current upsurge in moral psychology, the fourth epoch emphasizes the moral-evaluative aspect of causal judgment, reflected in a "person as moralist" metaphor. By tracing the progression from the person-environment distinction in early attribution theories to present concerns with moral judgment, our goal is to clarify how causal constructs have been used, how they relate to one another, and what unique attributional problems each addresses.

The Effects of Invoking Stereotype Excuses on Perceivers’ Character Trait Inferences and Performance Attributions

Abstract. This investigation examined perceivers’ character trait inferences and performance attributions in response to a target who invoked a gender stereotype to excuse poor math performance. Furthermore, this investigation sought to compare the effects of this excuse to the effects produced by a non-stereotype excuses and the mere mention of a stereotype. Results revealed that invoking a gender stereotype excuse for poor math performance may elicit especially negative effects on perceptions of an excuse-maker’s: (a) overall character; (b) effectualness; (c) responsibility for the performance outcome; and (d) control over the performance outcome.

Moral judgment as information processing: an integrative review

How do humans make moral judgments about others’ behavior? This article reviews dominant models of moral judgment, organizing them within an overarching framework of information processing. This framework poses two distinct questions: (1) What input information guides moral judgments? and (2) What psychological processes generate these judgments? Information Models address the first question, identifying critical information elements (including causality, intentionality, and mental states) that shape moral judgments. A subclass of Biased Information Models holds that perceptions of these information elements are themselves driven by prior moral judgments. Processing Models address the second question, and existing models have focused on the relative contribution of intuitive versus deliberative processes. This review organizes existing moral judgment models within this framework and critically evaluates them on empirical and theoretical grounds; it then outlines a general integrative model grounded in information processing, and concludes with conceptual and methodological suggestions for future research. The information-processing framework provides a useful theoretical lens through which to organize extant and future work in the rapidly growing field of moral judgment.

Judgments of Responsibility Versus Accountability

We proposed and found that employees’ judgments of responsibility and accountability are distinct but positively related constructs. Using attribution theory for responsibility judgments and lay dispositionalism for accountability judgments, we hypothesized that employees hold others more responsible (i.e., causal) and accountable (i.e., punishable) than they hold themselves for the same workplace mistakes. Independent mean differences within a sample of 286 working adults revealed that people held others more responsible but not more accountable than they held themselves. Post hoc analyses revealed a counterintuitive finding. Counter to what theory would predict, as workplace mistake seriousness increased the variation between self-judgement and other-judgment decreased. Implications and future directions for accountability research are discussed.

Counselor and clinical supervisor perceptions of OASAS tobacco-free regulation implementation extensiveness, perceived accountability, and use of resources

New York State required substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programs to be 100% tobacco-free in 2008. The current study examined counselor (N = 364) and clinical supervisor (N = 98) perceptions of how extensively the tobacco-free regulation was implemented in their treatment programs, perceived accountability for implementing the regulation, and use of OASAS-provided resources to aid implementation one year after the regulation went into effect. Results showed that compared to counselors, supervisors perceive greater implementation extensiveness and report using more resources, yet they perceive lower accountability. In addition, whereas perceived accountability is significantly and positively associated with implementation extensiveness perceptions for counselors, the relationship is negative for supervisors. The association between use of resources and implementation extensiveness perceptions is significant and positive for both counselors and supervisors. We conclude that implementation experiences differ between counselors and clinical supervisors, suggesting the importance of tailoring interventions to promote tobacco-free policies in SUD treatment programs.

The ABC of moral development: an attachment approach to moral judgment

As with other cognitive faculties, the etiology of moral judgment and its connection to early development is complex. Because research is limited, the causative and contributory factors to the development of moral judgment in preverbal infants are unclear. However, evidence is emerging from studies within both infant research and moral psychology that may contribute to our understanding of the early development of moral judgments. Though its finding are preliminary, this proposed paradigm synthesizes these findings to generate an overarching, model of the process that appears to contribute to the development of moral judgment in the first year of life. I will propose that through early interactions with the caregiver, the child acquires an internal representation of a system of rules that determine how right/wrong judgments are to be construed, used, and understood. By breaking moral situations down into their defining features, the attachment model of moral judgment outlines a framework for a universal moral faculty based on a universal, innate, deep structure that appears uniformly in the structure of almost all moral judgments regardless of their content. The implications of the model for our understanding of innateness, universal morality, and the representations of moral situations are discussed.

The neural basis of responsibility attribution in decision-making

Social responsibility links personal behavior with societal expectations and plays a key role in affecting an agent's emotional state following a decision. However, the neural basis of responsibility attribution remains unclear. In two previous event-related brain potential (ERP) studies we found that personal responsibility modulated outcome evaluation in gambling tasks. Here we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to identify particular brain regions that mediate responsibility attribution. In a context involving team cooperation, participants completed a task with their teammates and on each trial received feedback about team success and individual success sequentially. We found that brain activity differed between conditions involving team success vs. team failure. Further, different brain regions were associated with reinforcement of behavior by social praise vs. monetary reward. Specifically, right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ) was associated with social pride whereas dorsal striatum and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were related to reinforcement of behaviors leading to personal gain. The present study provides evidence that the RTPJ is an important region for determining whether self-generated behaviors are deserving of praise in a social context.

Responsibility and confidence: Identifying barriers to advanced pharmacy practice

BACKGROUND

Despite the changing role of the pharmacist in patient-centred practice, pharmacists anecdotally reported little confidence in their clinical decision-making skills and do not feel responsible for their patients. Observational findings have suggested these trends within the profession, but there is a paucity of evidence to explain why. We conducted an exploratory study with an objective to identify reasons for the lack of responsibility and/or confidence in various pharmacy practice settings.

METHODS

Pharmacist interviews were conducted via written response, face-to-face or telephone. Seven questions were asked on the topic of responsibility and confidence as it applies to pharmacy practice and how pharmacists think these themes differ in medicine. Interview transcripts were analyzed and divided by common theme. Quotations to support these themes are presented.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine pharmacists were asked to participate, and 18 responded (62% response rate). From these interviews, 6 themes were identified as barriers to confidence and responsibility: hierarchy of the medical system, role definitions, evolution of responsibility, ownership of decisions for confidence building, quality and consequences of mentorship and personality traits upon admission.

DISCUSSION

We identified 6 potential barriers to the development of pharmacists' self-confidence and responsibility. These findings have practical applicability for educational research, future curriculum changes, experiential learning structure and pharmacy practice. Due to bias and the limitations of this form of exploratory research and small sample size, evidence should be interpreted cautiously.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacists feel neither responsible nor confident for their clinical decisions due to social, educational, experiential and personal reasons. Can Pharm J 2013;146:155-161.

The effects of driver identity on driving safety in a retrospective feedback system

BACKGROUND

Retrospective feedback that provides detailed information on a driver's performance in critical driving situations at the end of a trip enhances his/her driving behaviors and safe driving habits. Although this has been demonstrated by a previous study, retrospective feedback can be further improved and applied to non-critical driving situations, which is needed for transportation safety.

OBJECTIVES

To propose a new retrospective feedback system that uses driver identity (i.e., a driver's name) and to experimentally study its effects on measures of driving performance and safety in a driving simulator.

METHOD

We conducted a behavioral experimental study with 30 participants. "Feedback type" was a between-subject variable with three conditions: no feedback (control group), feedback without driver identity, and feedback with driver identity. We measured multiple aspects of participants' driving behavior. To control for potential confounds, factors that were significantly correlated with driving behavior (e.g., age and driving experience) were all entered as covariates into a multivariate analysis of variance. To examine the effects of speeding on collision severity in driving simulation studies, we also developed a new index - momentum of potential collision - with a set of equations.

RESULTS

Subjects who used a feedback system with driver identity had the fewest speeding violations and central-line crossings, spent the least amount of time speeding and crossing the central line, had the lowest speeding and central-line crossing magnitude, ran the fewest red lights, and had the smallest momentum of potential collision compared to the groups with feedback without driver identity and without feedback (control group).

CONCLUSIONS

The new retrospective feedback system with driver identity has the potential to enhance a person's driving safety (e.g., speeding, central-line crossing, momentum of potential collision), which is an indication of the valence of one's name in a feedback system design.

Obesity, stigma, and responsibility in health care: A synthesis of qualitative studies

Objective

To synthesize research findings on experiences and attitudes about obesity and stigma in health care.

Methods

We compiled qualitative studies and applied Noblitt & Hare's meta ethnography to identify, translate, and summarize across studies. Thirteen qualitative studies on experiences and attitudes about obesity and stigma in health care settings were identified and included.

Results

The study reveals how stigmatizing attitudes are enacted by health care providers and perceived by patients with obesity. Second-order analysis demonstrated that apparently appropriate advice can be perceived as patronizing by patients with obesity. Furthermore, health care providers indicate that abnormal bodies cannot be incorporated in the medical systems—exclusion of patients with obesity consequently happens. Finally, customary standards for interpersonal respect are legitimately surpassed, and patients with obesity experience contempt as if deserved. Third-order analysis revealed conflicting views between providers and patients with obesity on responsibility, whereas internalized stigma made patients vulnerable for accepting a negative attribution. A theoretical elaboration relates the issues of stigma with those of responsibility.

Conclusion

Contradictory views on patients’ responsibility, efforts, knowledge, and motivation merge to internalization of stigma, thereby obstructing healthy coping and collaboration and creating negative contexts for empowerment, self-efficacy, and weight management. Professionals need to develop their awareness for potentially stigmatizing attitudes towards vulnerable patient populations.

Individual responsibilities and moral inclusion in an age of rights

In reference to Western cultures, some scholars (see Finkel & Moghaddam, 2005) have pointed out that we live in an ‘‘age of rights.’’ That is, people attach priority to their individual rights within a narrow-minded, individualistic worldview and de-emphasize duties. Such self-centred individualism focuses on the rights of individuals, forgetting to consider that rights can be effective only in relation to corresponding duties. In this article, a psychosocial theory on psychological boundaries for fairness, norms, and moral rules—namely moral inclusion/exclusion theory—will be used as a useful theoretical framework to resolve the apparent antinomy of rights versus duties. In particular, the use of this theory is relevant in understanding that the issues of claiming and protecting human rights and the balance between each individual’s rights should be based on the concept of responsibility. In this sense, universality of human rights ought to deal with the universal recognition of other individuals and cultures and can be achieved only by means of intercultural dialogue.

Fitting Engagement Into a Nomological Network

Engagement is an emerging job attitude that has been theoretically linked to both leadership and personality variables as well as important work outcomes. However, given the variations in construct definitions of engagement as well as limited existing empirical research, the authors empirically examined the nomological network of multiple measures of engagement based on Schaufeli’s three-factor engagement, Shirom’s vigor, and Britt’s one-factor engagement. Using data from an online survey of 382 working professionals, the authors conducted a series of hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. Results indicate strong relationships between engagement measures and personality (especially positive affect) and weaker relationships between engagement and leadership. Furthermore, multiple measures of engagement demonstrated significant relationships with the important work outcomes of turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and affective commitment. This research contributes to the literature on engagement by simultaneously examining multiple conceptualizations and measurements of work engagement and demonstrating leverage points for leaders to influence the state-like construct of engagement. Results suggested that engagement is related to important organizational outcomes and that engagement mediates the relationship between personality and organizational outcomes. Implications and suggestions for practice and future research are provided.

Responsibility modulates neural mechanisms of outcome processing: an ERP study

The role of personal responsibility in decision-making and its influence on the outcome evaluation process have been investigated relatively rarely in cognitive neuroscience. The present event-related brain potential (ERP) study manipulated the subjective sense of responsibility by modifying outcome controllability in a gambling task. Participants reported a higher sense of responsibility and produced a larger fERN when they were told that the game was 'controllable' compared with when they were told that the game was 'uncontrollable.' In addition, fERN amplitude was correlated with individual self-reports of personal responsibility over the outcomes. These results indicate that self-attribution of responsibility associated with different degrees of controllability affects the outcome evaluation process and fERN amplitude.