FLOOD03743

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: 25th Annual Celebration Hazards Research and Applications Workshop
• Date: 7/9/2000
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

ROO-14

Dr. John-Paul Mulilis
Department of Psychology .
Penn State university
100 University Drive
Monaca PA 15061
phone: [phone]
fax: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

EFFECTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND COMMITMENT
ON CHOICE AND RESPONSIBILITY

(Presented at the 1st Annual Convention
of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology,
Nashville, February 3 to 5, 2000)

BY

DR. JOHN-PAUL MULILIS, DR. T. SHELLEY DUVAL,
MS. TARA HOWITT, & MS. MARGARET DAVIS

.

ABSTRACT

A review of the literature indicates that accountability, that
is, pressure to justify one's opinions to others, appears to
affect the type of choices one makes. Furthermore, it also
appears that both choice and commitment seem to affect the level
of responsibility one assumes for their behavior. Thus, it seems
reasonable that accountability might also affect both choice as
well as the degree of responsibility a person assumes for their
behavior. The goal of this study was to investigate the
relationship between these variables. Specifically, it was
hypothesized that (1) increased pressures to justify one's
actions (i.e., accountability) would lead to lower choice with
respect to these actions, as well as (2) lower responsibility for
these actions. Additionally, this study also investigated the
impact of commitment on these relationships.

Results generally supported predictions and indicated that
amount of choice in preparing for tornados decreased with
increasing accountability, but only under conditions of low
commitment. Increased accountability also resulted in decreased
responsibility. It was concluded that effects of accountability
on choice and responsibility may be mediated by commitment.
Implications of these results are discussed with respect to PrE .
(Person-Relative-to-Event) theory.