Bias in responsibility attribution and different attitudes towards social security policy by income

Abstract

Previous studies on attribution and helping have examined people's judgment on whether the poor deserve government support (Zucker & Weiner, 1993), and the determinants of attitude towards social policy benefitting the poor (Applebaum, 2001). However, even those who deem the poor as undeserving of government support may favor social security, if they judge them as unable to solve their poverty, and hence they may attribute the responsibility for a solution to the government. This study examined the process in which people form their attitude toward social security from the viewpoint of solution responsibility (Brickman, Rabinowitz, Karuza, Coates, Cohen, & Kidder, 1982; Karasawa, 1991) by conducting secondary analyses of social survey data. The results indicated that compared to those with high income, those with low income tend to attribute responsibility for a solution to the government, and are more likely to support social security. Implications toward contemporary Japanese society, in which income disparity is increasing, were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)