PERCEIVED LOCUS OF CAUSALITY AS A VARIABLE AFFECTING USE OF EMOTIONAL WORDS
Sammary.-The role of locus of causality (atmibution: self, none or other) and event outcome (success or failure) in the use of emotional words was addressed when 129 subjects rated 20 emotions in terms of how strongly they would feel them in 6 imaginary situations. Significant main effects were associated with outcome (for 17 words) and with locus of causalicy (10 words). The interaction of locus and outcome was also significant (5 times). Parallels are drawn between the dimensiom of attribution (including locus) and the dimensions of affective space. Russell ( 1778) provides convergent validity for two bipolar dimensions of affective space (the dimensional space used to describe emotional words). Evaluation (or Pleasantness) and Activation (or Arousal) are validated by references to past and present research. Subsequent to stringent efforts aimed at describing dimensions beyond Evaluation and Activation, Russell concludes that such additional dimensions are to be "interpreted as describing not the emotion per se but rather beliefs about the antecedents and consequences of the emotion." In another context, Russell and Pratt (1780) concluded that dimensions beyond Evaluation and Activation should not bear the label "affective" but should be considered as "cognitive" instead, bearing as they do on events surrounding the emotion and on the individual's interpretation of such events. The interpretations that surround events are considered important in attribution theory, where causal attribution (the answer to the question "why") is seen to interact with event outcomes (success, failure) and with emotional responses to the event (Forsyth & McMillan, 1781). Data from classroom sirnations bear out the value of Weiner's three-dimensional theory of attribution: locus of causality, stability, and controlability affect the emotional responses of subjects to test results (Forsyth & McMillan, 1781). The language used to describe the dimensions of attribution (locus of causality, stability, controlability) is very similar to the language used by Russell in describing candidates for the role of the third dimension in affective space (locus of control, locus of causation, dominance). The present experiment attempts to clarify, to some extent, the role of causal attribution in the use and understanding of emotional words. Causal attribution is not necessarily represented as a dimension in affective space. Rather, a set of emotional words is presented to subjects under different assumptions of event outcome and causal attribution. Systematic responses,