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Suspicion and Dispositional Inference
Open accessAbstract
The role of suspicion in the dispositional inference process is examined. Perceivers who are led to become suspicious of the motives underlying a target's behavior appear to engage in more active and thoughtful attributional analyses than nonsuspicious perceivers. Suspicious perceivers resist drawing inferences from a target's behavior that reflect the correspondence bias (or fundamental attribution error), and they consciously deliberate about questions of plausible causes and categorizations of the target's behavior They are, however, quite willing to make strong correspondent inferences about the target if they learn additional contextual information that renders alternative explanations for the target's behavior less plausible. Implications of these findings for current multiple-stage models of the dispositional inference process are discussed, and the need for these and other models to give more consideration to the social nature of social perception is asserted.
Overview
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TL;DR
Suspicion—questioning whether a target’s behavior reflects genuine motives or ulterior ones—leads perceivers to suspend dispositional inferences and resist the correspondence bias. Suspicious perceivers remain willing to make strong correspondent inferences when later contextual information disambiguates the target’s behavior, suggesting multiple-stage models underweight the social and motivational nature of social perception.
Key findings
- In Fein, Hilton, and Miller’s (1990) Studies 1 and 2, subjects in no-choice conditions inferred that an essay author’s true attitude matched the position argued, whereas subjects in ulterior-motives conditions drew no person inferences from the speech.
- Suspicion is not mere conservatism: suspicious subjects wrote significantly more open-ended explanations and, in Fein (1991, Studies 1 and 2), were significantly more likely to report attribution-relevant thoughts than nonsuspicious subjects.
- Suspicious perceivers use behavior selectively: in Fein, Hilton, and Miller (1989), subjects would not infer whether a suitor loved a wealthy widow or was after her money, but they did infer that he strongly wanted to marry her.
- When later information disambiguates behavior, suspicious perceivers make strong correspondent inferences: Fein et al. (1990, Study 3) and Fein et al. (1989) found that additional sincerity or honesty/greed cues led to correspondent inferences about attitude, love, or greed.
- Suspicion can produce cynicism toward expectancy-disconfirming behavior: in Fein (1991, Studies 6 and 7), subjects rated a student’s cultural interests more negatively and an ex-convict less trustworthy when the target was aware of the negative expectancy; in Study 8, they revised expectations for hard-to-fake analytical performance but not for interpersonal style.
Methods
- Design: theoretical and conceptual review article, not a new empirical study; it integrates prior experiments on suspicion and dispositional inference.
- Data or sample: reviewed experiments use assigned-essay, courtship-of-wealthy-widow, fellowship-interview, and ex-convict job-candidate paradigms; no sample sizes or statistical values are reported in the provided text.
- Main analysis: narrative synthesis and critique of multiple-stage dispositional inference models, including anchor-and-adjustment accounts and Trope’s model, with a proposed distinction between diagnostic and calibrative discounting.
Limitations
- The paper does not include a formal limitations section. It states that current multiple-stage models do not clearly account for suspicion and calls for models that better recognize the social nature of social perception.
- Evident from the text: the argument relies on prior studies, including an unpublished doctoral dissertation (Fein, 1991) and a conference paper (Fein, Hilton, & Miller, 1989), and reports no new data or numeric effect sizes.
- Evident from the text: as a theoretical review, its causal claims depend on the reviewed experiments rather than on new manipulations reported here.
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44 Own interpretation · 19 Sources not found · 10 No full text of the sources · 8 Own result · 2 Not checked yet · 1 Own method
In the paper
“Thibaut and Riecken (1955) manipulated the relative status of the helper and the recipient and found that the helper was liked less when he was of lower status than the recipient.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Thibaut and Riecken (1955) source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Pruitt (1968) manipulated the resources available to the helper and found that the person who received help was less grateful when the help represented a relatively small proportion of the helper's resources.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Pruitt (1968) source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“the subjects who read this information did tend to make strong correspondent inferences about his attitude.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein et al. (1990, Study 3)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“subjects in the no-choice conditions saw the target's behavior as more normative (expected) than subjects in the ulterior motives conditions.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein, Hilton, and Miller (1990)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“However, when the selfdescriptions were consistent with the job description, and therefore possibly given in order to get the job, subjects'ratings did not differ from neutral ratings”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Jones, Davis, and Gergen's (1961) source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“when we (Fein et al., 1990, Study 1) asked subjects to indicate why the author behaved as he did, subjects in the suspicion conditions wrote significantly more than subjects in the no-choice conditions.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein et al., 1990, Study 1
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The results showed that subjects' trait descriptions of the actors corresponded most closely to the actor's self-descriptions when those descriptions were inconsistent with the job description.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Jones, Davis, and Gergen's (1961) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Consistent with predictions, subjects who read that the candidate knew that the interviewer was aware of his status as an ex-convict rated him as significantly less trustworthy than subjects in any of the other conditions.”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Consistent with predictions, subjects who knew of both the negative expectancy about the student's cultural interests and the student's awareness that the interviewer would have this expectancy rated the student's true attitude toward theater, opera, and art significantly more negatively than subjects in any of the other conditions.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Whereas the subjects who did not read this additional information were unwilling to make a correspondent inference about the target's true attitude toward the issue discussed in his essay”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein et al. (1990, Study 3)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
- It may state two separate claims as one. 19
- Probably not a substantial claim. 8
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
In the paper
“the subjects were unwilling to infer either that the man was truly in love with the woman or that he was simply after her money.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein, Hilton, and Miller (1989)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Their responses indicated that these subjects did not tend to conclude that the target was influenced by ulterior motives but, rather, that the target may have been influenced by ulterior motives.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein (1991, Study 1)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“their open-ended responses indicated that these subjects merely recognized the possibility that his behavior may have been influenced by ulterior motives and perceived that they therefore could not make a confident inference about his true attitude.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fein, Hilton, and Miller (1990)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Subjects in our studies who have been induced to become suspicious tend to take situational factors into sufficient account, to become actively concerned with questions of causality, to distinguish between information that can and cannot be explained by particular causal explanations, and to use subtle cues that can help them determine which among several dispositional inferences is most appropr”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Subjects in the typical assigned-essay paradigm may wonder whether the author really holds the expressed attitude, but it is unlikely that they question why the attitude was expressed.”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The latter possibility makes them cynical and leads them to be conservative in their inferences.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“subjects should very quickly identify the author's behavior and initially infer that the author holds an attitude that corresponds to the attitude expressed in the essay. Then they should begin to correct this inference in light of the information about situational constraint.”
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Subjects were assigned randomly to one of three conditions.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Notice that what separates the two examples is that the perceiver in the latter scenario assumes that the target is aware of the stereotype. This awareness leads to suspicion, which, in turn, leads to a rejection of the expectancy-disconfirming behavior.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Until the perceivers are able to resolve this ambiguity and determine whether the motives underlying the behavior reflect the author's true attitude, the desire to ingratiate, or some combination of these factors, they should suspend their judgments and thereby avoid the correspondence bias.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“the wealth of the woman presents a very plausible, though not necessarily the most probable, alternative explanation for the behavior, and this plausibility is sufficient to lead the perceiver to suspend judgment.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Whereas virtually anyone who is motivated to deceive another by appearing to be culturally literate, for example, could act in a culturally literate manner during a brief interaction (if given some time to prepare), it is much less plausible that someone who is not athletic but is motivated to appear to be a good athlete could behave in a very athletic fashion for any length of time”
What the sources say
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“subjects who are suspicious do not behave as if they had gained no information from the target's behavior. Instead, they behave as if they had received important information whose meaning remains ambiguous, and they suspend their judgments only until the meaning of the behavior can be made clear.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“According to our analysis, however, suspicion results in midpoint ratings because the subjects suspend their judgments, not because they conclude that the target has a moderate disposition.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Current models do not specify how the correction stage would lead to a consideration of a variety of dispositions.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although it is doubtful that they can appreciate completely the role of contextual information in their construal of the target's behavior, suspicious perceivers consciously consider competing identifications, and they seek additional cues that can reduce the ambiguity created by this competition.”
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Thus it would appear that controlled processing and considerations of situational factors would be evident at both the early anchoring stage(s) and the later adjustment stage.”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Rather, suspicious perceivers entertain multiple inferences, and these inferences sometimes implicate very different dispositions or characterizations (e.g., greed vs. love).”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Gilbert, McNulty, Giuliano, and Benson (1992), for example, have found that when perceivers are presented with perceptually obscured behavioral stimuli concerning a target person, the cognitive effort they must devote to deciphering the proper categorization reduces their ability to engage in the cognitively effortful process of correction, thereby increasing the likelihood of succumbing to the”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Gilbert, McNulty, Giuliano, and Benson (1992) source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Because suspicion involves active, deliberative attributional thinking concerning the multiple and potentially rival explanations for a target's behavior”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The discounting that occurs in the case of no-choice conditions may involve more moderate inferences, but the discounting that occurs in the case of ulterior motivation seems to reflect suspended judgment rather than moderate inferences.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although many of these models can account well for the strong tendency of the typical perceiver to draw inappropriately correspondent inferences, they do not offer as clear an account for the role of suspicion in the dispositional inference process.”
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although suspicion may be especially likely to trigger thoughtful diagnostic discounting because people may be quite concerned about being duped or appearing to be a”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
- Rests on an assumption: People may be quite concerned about being duped or appearing to be a sucker in the face of an actor influenced by ulterior motives.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“After all, in order to become suspicious in the first place, the perceiver must recognize the situational factors that suggest that ulterior motives may offer a plausible explanation for the target's behavior.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“When perceiving nonsocial behavior, perceivers need not concern themselves with the motives underlying the behavior. In perceiving people, however, the plausibility of hidden, illicit motives is often great.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic inducements makes sense as long as the corresponding disposition has already been identified.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is important to note, however, that one implication of this analysis may be that although the process may at times be fairly cyclical, perceivers often must first diagnose which trait or motives correspond to the behavior before they can complete their adjustment for intrinsic and extrinsic inducements.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
The paper relies on this without support.
Stereotypes are often both public and negative.
“because stereotypes are often both public and negative”
The paper relies on this without support.
The negative aspects of stereotypes are often extremely difficult to disconfirm.
“It is clear that the negative aspects of stereotypes are often extremely difficult to disconfirm.”
The paper relies on this without support.
People may be quite concerned about being duped or appearing to be a sucker in the face of an actor influenced by ulterior motives.
“Although suspicion may be especially likely to trigger thoughtful diagnostic discounting because people may be quite concerned about being duped or appearing to be a”
Claims other papers make about this one
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In the citing paper
“However, perceivers do not make these correspondent trait attributions when they become suspicious of the motives underlying the actor's behavior.”
From The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities on Companies With Bad Reputations (2006) · cites this paper as Hilton, Fein, & Miller, 1993
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Citations
Cites
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Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior
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From acts to dispositions the attribution process in person perception
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Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena.
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Cognitive consequences of forced compliance.
Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959) · The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0041593 · Cited by 2,945
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Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Fein, S. (1991). The suspicious mind. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan.
- Gilbert, D. T., 1989, Unintended thought, 189
- Hilton, J. L., 1990, Review International de Psychologie Sociale, 4, 519
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Suspicion at Work: The Impact on Counterproductive and Citizenship Behaviors
Capitano, J., & Cunningham, Q. W. (2018) · Organization Management Journal · doi:10.1080/15416518.2018.1528858 · Cited by 12
The effects of suspicion on the recall of cues used to make veracity judgments
Millar, M. G., & Millar, K. U. (1998) · Communication Reports · doi:10.1080/08934219809367685 · Cited by 12
Gay, C., Horowitz, B., Elshaw, J., Bobko, P., & Kim, I. (2019) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2019.2901258 · Cited by 15
“Stage 2 of the suspicion model identifies individual levels of trust, distrust, training and other personal traits that can affect state-level suspicion [41], [42].”
BackgroundDeception and Applicant Faking: Putting the Pieces Together
Kim, B. H. (2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119992592.ch7 · Cited by 11
Suspicion About Suspicion Probes: Ways Forward
Barrett, D. W., Neuberg, S. L., & Luce, C. L. (2023) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916231195855 · Cited by 10
“Broadly speaking, suspicious individuals tend to engage in more systematic information search (Hilton et al., 1993; Sinaceur, 2010), are more likely to question the motives and intentions of others within the workplace and to violate workplace norms (Capiola et al., 2019), and are generally less…”
Commentaries on "The Really Fundamental Attribution Error in Social Psychological Research"
(2001) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1201_02 · Cited by 10
Rhadigan, C. C., & Huprich, S. K. (2012) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi.2012.26.2.162 · Cited by 9
Beyond the Fundamental Attribution Era
Fein, S. (2001) · Cited by 9
Self-citationCommentary: Psychologically Naive Assumptions about the Perils of Conflicts of Interest
Miller, D. T. (2005) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511610332.009 · Cited by 9
Self-citationThe Role of Human Operators' Suspicion in the Detection of Cyber Attacks
Hirshfield, L., Bobko, P., Barelka, A. J., et al. (2019) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-8897-9.ch074 · Cited by 8
Moon, B. B., & Yang, S. (2014) · Asian Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/01292986.2014.960876 · Cited by 8
“While trust refers to one’s confidence in the intentions and capabilities of the other and the belief that the other would behave as one hopes (Deutsch, 1960), distrust develops when a problem or a question remains unresolved and concerns and skepticism arise (Hilton et al., 1993).”
BackgroundLiao, J., Ye, Y., Filieri, R., Du, P., & Jiang, Y. (2024) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.22065 · Cited by 11
Schyns, B. (2021) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-06-2020-0242 · Cited by 10
Bellou, V., & Gkorezis, P. (2016) · Human Performance · doi:10.1080/08959285.2016.1157597 · Cited by 7
“As Hilton, Fein, and Miller (1993) held, “To be suspicious is to question the motives that underlie a person’s behavior or to question the genuineness of that behavior” (p. 502).”
BackgroundUsing Online Video to Announce a Restatement: Influences on Investor Trust and Investment Decisions*Preprint
Elliott, W. B., Hodge, F. D., & Sedor, L. M. (2009) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1466290 · Cited by 7
“Trust violations tend to evoke suspicion and increase an individual’s sensitivity to information regarding the intentions and motives underlying another’s behavior (Hilton et al. 1993).”
BackgroundPanigyraki, A., Polyportis, A., & Kyriakopoulos, N. (2024) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.2350 · Cited by 6
Yipeng, T. A. N. G., Jia, R. T., Long, L., Zhiyu, R. E. N., & Pu, X. (2022) · Acta Psychologica Sinica · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1041.2022.00529 · Cited by 6
Cowart, K. O., Yu, Z., & Ding, A. (2024) · Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/00913367.2023.2291475 · Cited by 6
“Another inference derived from the racial composition of an ad is the brand’s perceived ulterior motive, which is the self-interest or profit-seeking motive that underlines an entity’s (e.g., advertiser’s) behavior (DeCarlo, 2005; Hilton, Fein, & Miller, 1993).”
The supernatural guilt trip does not take us far enough
Gjersoe, N. L., & Hood, B. M. (2006) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x06349102 · Cited by 6
eWOM, what are we suspecting? Motivation, truthfulness or identity
Zhang, X., Wu, Y., & Wang, W. (2020) · Journal of Information Communication and Ethics in Society · doi:10.1108/jices-12-2019-0135 · Cited by 8
Gkorezis, P. (2020) · Humor - International Journal of Humor Research · doi:10.1515/humor-2019-0067 · Cited by 7
Multi-method Approach Measuring Trust, Distrust, and Suspicion in Information Technology
Jessup, S. A., Alarcon, G. M., Capiola, A. A., & Ryan, T. J. (2020) · Interacción · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-50309-3_27 · Cited by 4
Addressing Online Users’ Suspicion of Sponsored Search Results: Effects of Informational Cues
Deng, H., Wang, W., & Lim, K. H. (2024) · Information Systems Research · doi:10.1287/isre.2021.0364 · Cited by 5
The Role of Uncertainty Avoidance and Situational Abnormality in the Satisfaction-Trust-Loyalty Link
Ojeme, M., Kırkbeşoğlu, E., & Doğan, B. (2019) · Journal of Relationship Marketing · doi:10.1080/15332667.2019.1648939 · Cited by 5
Can Thinking about Alternative Explanations Promote Professional Skepticism?
Rose, A. M., Rose, J. M., Rotaru, K., et al. (2023) · Accounting Horizons · doi:10.2308/horizons-2021-092 · Cited by 5
Rumours in war: Boko Haram and the politics of suspicion in French–Cameroon relations
Orock, R. (2019) · The Journal of Modern African Studies · doi:10.1017/s0022278x19000508 · Cited by 5
Deduction from if-then personality signatures
Bonnefon, J. (2010) · Thinking & Reasoning · doi:10.1080/13546783.2010.503044 · Cited by 5
“Indeed, in the domain of social cognition, people are known to hedge the trait conclusions they derive from personality signatures (Wright & Mischel, 1988 ), and to suspend their judgement if they feel that they need to collect more information about the personality signature of a given individual (Hilton, Fein, & Mil…”
BackgroundAuditor Sensitivity to Real Earnings Management: An Experimental InvestigationPreprint
Commerford, B. P., Hermanson, D. R., Houston, R. W., et al. (2014) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2510554 · Cited by 5
Looking a gift horse in the mouth: Suspicion of large gift expenditures undermines gift appreciation
Mutluoglu, A., Ashworth, L., & Robitaille, N. (2024) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.21983 · Cited by 4
Friends or Enemies? The impact of partial competitor referral on consumer purchase
Zhao, H., Zhang, M., & Chen, H. A. (2025) · Journal of Retailing · doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2025.01.001 · Cited by 4
Academic Suspension and Student Adjustment: How Students Make Meaning of Their Experiences.
Houle, N. M. (2013) · ProQuest LLC eBooks · Cited by 4
Kim, T. (2012) · Cited by 4
Trust and the Auditor-Client Relationship: An Exploratory Study*Preprint
Rennie, M., Kopp, L. S., & Lemon, W. M. (2006) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.873889 · Cited by 4
Fake online reviews: A study on eWOM influence when suspicions arise
Cavazza, N., & Guidetti, M. (2014) · IRIS UNIMORE (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) · doi:10.1482/76369 · Cited by 3
The Suspicious Factors in Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication
Zhang, X., & Barnes, C. (2019) · Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness · doi:10.33423/jmdc.v13i2.2015 · Cited by 3
Hwang, K., Lee, E., & Yoon, Y. (2025) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.70048 · Cited by 2
Werth, L., Denzler, M., & Mayer, J. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-53897-5_5 · Cited by 2
Sood, D., Tandon, D. K., & Sood, P. (2022) · Advances in marketing, customer relationship management, and e-services book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-6133-4.ch014 · Cited by 2
Roth, P. L., Bobko, P., Pu, W., & Thatcher, J. B. (2025) · Journal of Management Scientific Reports · doi:10.1177/27550311251341476 · Cited by 2
“Uncertainty involves a “ belief held without proof or evidence to support certainty, ” i.e., suspended judgment (Bobko et al., 2014a, p. 492; Hilton et al., 1993).”
Development and Validation of the Corporate Distrust Scale
Adams, J. E. (2008) · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · Cited by 2
Why Psychological Distance and Responsibility Attribution Matter in Corporate Crisis Communication?
Namkoong, M., & Park, H. S. (2018) · Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies · doi:10.20879/kjjcs.2018.62.5.009 · Cited by 2
The dynamic interplay of trustworthiness and state suspicion in teams over time: A panel analysis
Alarcon, G. M., Ryan, T. J., Capiola, A., et al. (2019) · Cogent Psychology · doi:10.1080/23311908.2019.1619897 · Cited by 2
“Individuals in a state of suspicion “ suspend their judgements until they are able to determine ” a specific appraisal (Hilton, Fein, & Miller, 1993, p. 504).”
BackgroundInfluential문비치, & 박건희 (2016) · Journal of Public Relations · doi:10.15814/jpr.2016.20.1.22 · Cited by 2
Shafer, W. E. (2004) · Advances in taxation · doi:10.1016/s1058-7497(01)13010-3 · Cited by 2
Correspondence bias and attitude toward abortion: Effects of information from others
Lawson, T. J., & Miller, A. G. (1996) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/bf02686922 · Cited by 2
“Although the CB appears to be a pervasive, robust phenomenon, many researchers have identified conditions under which it is attenuated, eliminated, or reversed (e.g., Hilton, Fein, & Miller, 1993; Jones, Worchel, Goethals, & Grumet, 1971; Reeder et al., 1989; Tetlock, 1985; Webster, 1993).”
BackgroundThe Interpersonal Implications of Stealing the GloryPreprint
Burrus, J. T., Kruger, J., & Savitsky, K. (2006) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.946191 · Cited by 2
Trust Propensity Congruence in Negotiations: Impacts on Joint Gains
Sinha, R., Sharma, S., & Elfenbein, H. A. (2025) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-025-10036-5 · Cited by 1
“In such scenarios, a cautious, evidence-based approach could lead to more thoughtful decision-making and potentially better negotiation outcomes (Hilton et al., 1993).”
Overcoming Deceptive Evasions in Earnings Calls: The Role of Investor Suspicion
Barcellos, L. P. (2025) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2025.01197 · Cited by 2
DÜŞÜK STATÜLÜ GRUPLARIN YÜKSEK STATÜLÜ GRUPLARA YÖNELİK OLUMLU TUTUMU
Akdoğan, N. (2019) · Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi · doi:10.21550/sosbilder.469991 · Cited by 1
Barelka, A. J., Bobko, P., & Wesselmann, E. D. (2022) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2022.2070077 · Cited by 1
“Furthermore, because suspicion involves a state of ‘suspended judgment’ (Hilton, Fein, and Miller 1993), we suggest that, in general, state suspicion will change as the level of discrepancies change (both increasing and decreasing) across time.”
BackgroundAnalysis of the assessment of sexualised communication on Instagram
Mas, J. M., Fernández-Lores, S., Márquez, Ó. C., & García-Monleón, F. (2024) · ESIC MARKET Economic and Business Journal · doi:10.7200/esicm.55.360 · Cited by 1
Discourses of emotionality and rationality in the financial services industry
Nekrassova, D. (2011) · Rutgers University Community Repository (Rutgers University) · doi:10.7282/t389156t · Cited by 1
Chopova, T. (2020) · doi:10.33540/350 · Cited by 1
Forming an impression of a flatterer: Targets and observers becoming suspicious of ulterior motives
Marchand, M. A. G. (2000) · Radboud Repository (Radboud University)
Debiasing Auditor Judgments from the Influence of Information Foraging Behavior
Commerford, B. P., & Hatfield, R. C. (2014)
Sustainability and consumer responses: The effect of bad industry reputation and fit
Oexle, S. (2014) · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT)
Hougham, C. (2011) · CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York)
The role of suspiciousness in understanding others’ goals
Palomares, N. A., Grasso, K. L., Li, S., & Li, N. (2016) · Interaction Studies Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems · doi:10.1075/is.17.2.01pal
The Law and Psychology of Suspicion and Police Decision-Making
Charbonneau, A. (2018) · ProQuest Demo Repository
Principled Defection: On Caring that Fails to Activate and Non-Cooperative BehaviorPreprint
Müller‐Trede, J., & Rottenstreich, Y. (2018) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3245326
Academic suspension and student adjustment
Houle, N. M. (2013) · doi:10.17760/d20003332
Analysis of Group Perception Differences on the Acceptability of Offshore Wind Project
Seulgi, L. E. E., & Ilsun, C. H. O. I. (2024) · Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education · doi:10.13000/jfmse.2024.4.36.2.362
Puzakova, M., Grinstein, A., & Becker, M. (2025) · Journal of Interactive Marketing · doi:10.1177/10949968251413529
“This is consistent with the con fi rmation bias that occurs when people make attributions based on preexisting beliefs (Hilton, Fein, and Miller 1993).”
Suspicion and CommunicationPreprint
Bruttel, L. V., Fromme, F., & Petrishcheva, V. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6399458
Bruttel, L. V., Fromme, F., & Petrishcheva, V. (2026) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107629
Metadata
- Authors
- Hilton, J. L., Fein, S., & Miller, D. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Williams College (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1993-10
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 501-512
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2079398527
- Semantic Scholar
- 399a99633ce8421df81198b2f98dd1b7bf6af833
- Cited by
- 171
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 9.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Deception detection and forensic psychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Keywords
- suspicion, dispositional inference, fundamental attribution error, correspondence bias, attributional analysis, social perception, contextual information, causal explanation, categorization
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