Causal Reasoning and Belief Perseverance

Craig A. Anderson, University of Missouri, Columbia ,i t t f'. f i , ~ ~ In 1980 my wife and I moved to Houston. In those days Houston was "boomtown." While the rest of the country was mired in an economic recession of disastrous proportions. Houston's economy was growing by leaps and bounds. In the auto industry states, particularly Michigan. Houston newspapers were in great demand. not for the quality of their reporting or their features, but for the thickness of their want ads. The ensuing migration from the so-called rust belt to Houston produced unprecedented strains on a variety of social, economic, bureautic, and physical systems of the city. Traffic problems outstripped those of the Los Angeles area. City and county services were completeIyoverwhelmed. Nothing could be done without long waits in lines. For example, I stood outside a house trailor, which was being used as a county courthouse, for over 2 hours in 980 + weather in order to get Texas plates for my car. My problems were trivial, though, compared to those experienced by the masses of unemployed seeking work and shelter. Many families camped out in parks. Others lived under highway overpasses. Still others lived in their rusted out cars. The quality of life had declined dramatically in just a few years. As you might guess, the local residents were not happy. The salient cause was all those damnYankees (one word). A strong and negative stereotype developed about outsiders. and was applied to anyone with out-of-state plates on their car. The stereotype included origin (Michigan), economic circumstances (unemployed), attributions about economic circumstances (stupid. lazy), and personality characteristics (pushy, obnoxious. rude, aggressive). As you might guess, this stereotype produced a number of interesting behaviors. Of most interest to me was the obvious way such beliefs produced behaviors that guaranteed responsive behaviors that confumed the beliefs. One popular game played by the locals was to run cars with out-of-state plates off the highway. This was especially popular among the good old boys with pick-up trucks. This produced a classic defensive competion response (Kelley & Stlhelski., 1970) by the newcomers; you had to learn to identify potential attackers and how to cut them off before they got in an attacking position. Another consequence took place at a more personallevel. It was extremely difficult to make friends with neighbors if they were long time residents. My wife and I had just moved from California. Our car still had Indiana plates on iL Nonetheless, several of our neighbors greeted ,usby saying~ "I hear you're from Michigan." One neighbor in particular had used the stereotype about newcomers to generate particularly negative and perseverant beliefs about us. No matter how good we were as neighbors. his beliefs did not " ,~ ,