Date of Award
5-8-2020
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Heather Kleider-Offutt
Second Advisor
David Washburn
Third Advisor
Eyal Aharoni
Abstract
Counterfactual thinking has been described by researchers as imagining alternative outcomes to a previous event (i.e., how that event could have turned out differently). Research has shown susceptibility towards systemic biases in this thought pattern. Specifically, these biases can include racial prejudices, such as decision-making favoring one race over another, and attribution errors, such as blaming a victim for an unfortunate circumstance. Research suggests that factors that increase the use of heuristics lead to increased victim blaming, racially biased decisions, and counterfactual thinking. The current studies suggest that counterfactual thinking has a positive relationship with blame assignment and that both of these factors can be influenced by race.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/17324049
Recommended Citation
Capodanno, Megan M., "Counterfactual Thinking and Racial Bias when Judging Crime Scenarios." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2020.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/17324049
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