Abstract
Three experiments were carried out to test the discounting and augmentation principle in attributional inference of others' behavior.
In Experiment I, subjects were given information about external forces which were facilitative (F), or neutral (N), or inhibitory (I) for the behavior. Though direct information about the internal condition was minimal, subjects drew inferences about internal factors of the stimulus person as predicted by the discounting principle. But the evidence for the augmentation principle was rather weak.
Experiment II examined the effects of information of both internal and external factors in a 3×3 factorial design. Results indicated that subjects used both kinds of information, but internal information was more effective and inference about external forces was influenced by internal condition.
In Experiment III, the effects of internal information upon the judgment of external forces were examined. There were three kinds of internal condition: facilitative (f), neutral (n), and inhibitory (i). Ratings of external factors were highest when internal condition was inhibitory, and lowest when internal condition was facilitative. Thus subjects inferred external forces from internal condition.
