Responsibility

First Published in 2004. The importance of responsibility in the third millennium is increasing. The rise of new technologies and related environmental hazards, the problem of the neglect of poor and old people, and the increase in violence and aggression in general indicate that respon­sibility is the characteristic which is of critical importance for the survival of modern democratic structures. This volume integrates the many facets of responsibility and reviews the research on a scientific basis. Responsibility is examined from different as well as interdisciplinary perspectives together with the applied aspects of responsibility (solidarity, volunteerism, moral development). Responsibility is made up of four parts: introduction; basic issues and domains of responsibility; applications of responsibility; and perspectives. Responsibility brings together international researchers who emphasise empirical analysis but also examine the theoretical aspects of the topic.

Ann Elisabeth Auhagen is a researcher and teacher at the Department of Psychology at the Free University of Berlin. Her main research interests are responsibility, personal relationships, friendship, social support, communication, the meaning of life and field research methods. Hans-Werner Bierhoff is Professor and Head of Social Psychology at Ruhr University, Bochum. His research interests include altruism and helping behaviour, fairness and responsibility in close relationships, and aggression and violence.

Part I. Introduction 1. Responsibility as a fundamental human phenomenon Hans-Werner Bierhoff and Ann Elisabeth Auhagen Part II. Basic Issues and Domains of Responsibility 2. Philosophical foundations of responsibility Dieter Birnbacher 3. Responsibility: a biological perspective Robert A. Hinde 4. Toward a broader psychological foundation for responsibility: who, what, how Kelly G. Shaver and Deborah A. Schutte 5. An attributional approach to perceived responsibility for transgressions: extensions to child abuse, punishment goals and political ideology Bernard Weiner 6. Responsibility in everyday life Ann Elisabeth Auhagen 7. Denial of responsibility Leo Montada Part III. Applications of Responsibility 8. Responsibility and technology Hans Lenk and Matthias Maring 9. Responsibility and ecological behaviour - a meta-analysis of the strength and the extent of a causal link Florian G. Kaiser, Urs Fuhrer, Olaf Weber, Thomas Ofner and Evelina Bühler-Ilieva 10. Responsibility appraisals of health protection Elisabeth Kals 11. Responsibility in work organisations L. Alan Witt 12. Responsibility and altruism: the role of volunteerism Hans-Weber Bierhoff 13. Responsibility and reactions to the disadvantaged Manfred Schmitt, Barbara Reichle and Jürgen Maes Part IV. Perspectives 14. Responsibility at the Beginning of the Third Millennium Ann Elisabeth Auhagen and Hans-Weber Bierhoff