Suspicious minds and views of fairness

Øivind Schøyen ()
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Øivind Schøyen: UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Theory and Decision, 2024, vol. 97, issue 1, No 4, 67-88

Abstract: Abstract Do people with different views of what is fair attribute different intentions to actions? In a novel experimental design, participants were significantly more likely to attribute a no-redistribution vote to selfishness if they considered redistribution as being fair. I define this—attributing actions that do not adhere to one’s own fairness view to selfishness—as suspicious attribution. I develop a theory of intention attribution to show how suspicious attribution arises from two other findings from the experiment: the participants underestimate the number of people with fairness views differing from their own and overestimate the selfishness of participants with other fairness views. I discuss how the findings can help explain political polarization.

Keywords: Attribution; Projection bias; Redistribution; Fairness view; Morality; Polarization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s11238-023-09965-5

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