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An attributional analysis of reactions to poverty is presented. The article begins by discussing the perceived causes of poverty and their taxonomic properties (locus, stability, and controllability). One antecedent of causal beliefs, political ideology, is then examined in detail, followed by a review of the effects of causal beliefs on emotions and behavior. It is contended that helping the poor is a moral issue, but the moral evaluation concerns the targeted recipient of aid rather than the potential help giver. Persons perceived as responsible for their plight, a dominant construal for conservatives, elicit anger and neglect. In contrast, those seen as not responsible for their financial hardship, an outlook predominantly endorsed by liberals, arouse sympathy and help giving. Sympathy is the most important proximal determinant of aid. This analysis is extended to reactions to achievement failure, abortion, and rape. Policy implications are also examined.

The authors comprehensively review research and theory on the verb causality effect. The effect involves the finding that different types of verbs used to describe interpersonal events give rise to different assumptions about the causes of the respective event. The authors analyze and conceptualize the linguistic categories that serve as independent variables in the pertinent studies, describe the research methods used, conduct reanalyses on the published data, and summarize the results. They conclude that the verb causality effect constitutes a robust and strong rinding that has been documented by several independent researchers across different verb samples, cultures, languages, and age groups.

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