Effects of Locus-of-Control, Outcome Severity, and Attitudinal Similarity of Defendant on Attributions of Criminal Responsibility

Internals and externals were presented with a trial description outlining a crime which varied in the seriousness of its consequences for others and then were asked to assign responsibility for it to an attitudinally similar or dissimilar defendant. It was predicted and found that internals assigned greater responsibility for the severe crime to an attitudinally similar defendant, while externals attributed more responsibility for a severe crime to an attitudinally dissimilar defendant.