Asymmetric genetic attributions for one's own prosocial versus antisocial behavior

People tend to rate prosocial or positive behavior as more strongly influenced by the actor's genes than antisocial or negative behavior. The current study tested whether people would show a similar asymmetry when rating the role of genes in their own behavior, and if so, what variables might m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of social psychology 2024-05, Vol.164 (3), p.273-279
Main Authors: Lebowitz, Matthew S., Tabb, Kathryn, Appelbaum, Paul S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altruism
Antisocial behavior
Antisocial Personality Disorder - genetics
Asymmetry
Attribution
causal attribution
Genes
Genetics
Humans
Judgment
motivated reasoning
Prosocial behavior
Social Behavior
social cognition
Social Perception
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Summary:People tend to rate prosocial or positive behavior as more strongly influenced by the actor's genes than antisocial or negative behavior. The current study tested whether people would show a similar asymmetry when rating the role of genes in their own behavior, and if so, what variables might mediate this difference. Participants were prompted to think about an example of their own behavior from the past year that was either prosocial or antisocial. Those in the prosocial condition rated the role of genetics in causing the behavior as significantly greater than did those in the antisocial condition. A mediation analysis suggested that this asymmetry could be accounted for by a tendency to view prosocial behavior as more natural and more aligned with one's true self than antisocial behavior. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that people's reasoning about genetics may be influenced by evaluative judgments.
ISSN:0022-4545
1940-1183
DOI:10.1080/00224545.2022.2058906