Suspicion of ulterior motivation and the correspondence bias
Fein, Hilton and Miller report three studies on whether learning about several plausible rival motives protects perceivers from the correspondence bias better than learning about situational constraints. In the first two, participants told that an actor was instructed to behave a certain way drew dispositional inferences matching the behaviour, while participants who suspected the actor of ingratiation (study 1) or of trying to avoid an unwanted job (study 2) did not show the bias. The third study found that the resistance did not reflect a general reluctance among suspicious perceivers to make dispositional inferences.
Fein, Hilton and Miller report three studies on whether learning about several plausible rival motives protects perceivers from the correspondence bias better than learning about situational constraints. In the first two, participants told that an actor was instructed to behave a certain way drew dispositional inferences matching the behaviour, while participants who suspected the actor of ingratiation (study 1) or of trying to avoid an unwanted job (study 2) did not show the bias. The third study found that the resistance did not reflect a general reluctance among suspicious perceivers to make dispositional inferences.
Written from the abstract, publisher listing, 2026-11-03.
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Fein, S., Hilton, J. L., & Miller, D. T. (1990). Suspicion of ulterior motivation and the correspondence bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(5), 753-764. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.5.753 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.5.753