Win Together, Lose Alone: Attributions of Praise Broaden, Blame Narrow (2015)

Undergraduates: Teresa Frasca, Chelsea Schein Kurt Gary

Faculty Advisor: Kurt Gray
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

---

We¿¿¿ve all encountered a child acting out in public and wondered why their parent wasn¿¿¿t controlling them. When a child helps an old lady, however, we don¿¿¿t search for a parent to applaud. Through several studies we examine this phenomenon. We asked people to make judgments about a child and their nearby parent for either saving a classmate from getting hit by a car, or causing them to be. Results showed that children were praised regardless of their moral responsibility, r= - .07 (p=.56), but blamed in accordance with it, r=.252 (p=.05). Parents were blamed to an even greater extent than their children, r=.85 (p=.01). In the second study, we examined how the child¿¿¿s age affected the same judgments. Results showed blame, but not praise, to be hydraulic across age, meaning that as children grow older they become more responsible for their actions. and parents less so. One possible explanation is that negativity narrows thought and positivity broadens it. Once we find one person to blame (i.e. the parent) then we stop looking for others. The positive nature of praise however broadens our circle so that we praise many. We use 6 surveys to apply this asymmetry and narrowing-broadening effect to other domains, including corporate relations, athletics, and group projects. Initial data analysis shows a similar effect where more individuals are praised than individuals who are blamed. This speaks to the way we assign praise and blame in daily life and how we navigate the moral arena.