Auhagen Ann Elisabeth - Responsibility

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.

Routledge Research International Series in Social Psychology
Edited by W.Peter Robinson, University of Bristol, UK

This series represents a showcase for both the latest cutting-edge research in the field,and important critiques of existing theory. International in scope, and directed at aninternational audience, applied topics are well represented. Social psychology is definedbroadly to include related areas from social development to the social psychology ofabnormal behaviour. The series is a rich source of information for advanced students andresearchers alike.

Routledge is pleased to invite proposals for new books in the series. In the first instance, any interested authors should contact:

Professor W.Peter Robinson
Department of Experimental Psychology
University of Bristol
8 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TN
E-mail:

Routledge Research International Series in Social Psychology

1 Cooperation in Modern Society
Promoting the welfare of communities, states and organizations
Edited by Mark van Vugt, Mark Snyder,Tom R.Tyler and Anders Biel

2 Youth and Coping in Twelve Nations
Surveys of 1820 year-old young people
Edited by Janice Gibson-Cline

3 Responsibility
The many faces of a social phenomenon
Hans-Werner Bierhoff and Ann Elisabeth Auhagen

Also available in the International Series in Social Psychology, now published byPsychology Press

Children as Consumers
A psychological analysis of the young peoples market
Barrie Gunter and Adrian Furnham

Adjustment of Adolescents
Cross-cultural similarities and differences
Ruth Scott and William Scott

Social Psychology and Education
Pam Maras

Making Sense of Television
The psychology of audience interpretation
Sonia Livingstone

Stereotypes During the Decline and Fall of Communism
Gyorgy Hunyady

Understanding the Older Consumer
The grey market
Barrie Gunter

Adolescence: From Crisis to Coping
A thirteen nation study
Edited by Janice Gibson-Cline

Changing European Identities
Social psychological analyses of social change
Edited by Glynis M.Breakwell and Evanthia Lyons

Social Groups and Identities
Developing the legacy of Henri Tajfel
Edited by W .Peter Robinson

Assertion and its Social Context
Keithia Wilson and Cynthia Gallois

Childrens Social Competence in Context
The contributions of family, school and culture
Barry H.Schneider

Emotion and Social Judgements
Edited by Joseph P .Forgas

Game Theory and its Applications
In the social and biological sciences
Andrew M.Colman

Genius and Eminence
Edited by Robert S.Albert

The Psychology of Gambling
Michael Walker

Social Dilemmas
Theoretical issues and research findings
Edited by Wim Liebrand, David Messick and Henk Wilke

The Theory of Reasoned Action
Its application to AIDS-preventive behaviour
Edited by Deborah Terry, Cynthia Gallois and Malcolm McCamish

The Economic Psychology of Everyday Life
Paul Webley, Carole B.Burgoyne, Stephen E.G.Lea and Brian M.Young

Personal Relationships Across the Lifespan
Patricia Noller, Judith Feeney and Candida Peterson

Responsibility

The many faces of a social
phenomenon

Edited by Ann Elisabeth Auhagen
and Hans-Werner Bierhoff

London and New York

First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
2001 Ann Elisabeth Auhagen and Hans-Werner Bierhoff for selection and
editorial material; individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Responsibility: the many faces of a social phenomenon/edited by Ann Elisabeth Auhagen
and Hans-Werner Bierhoff.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Responsibility, I. Auhagen, Ann Elisabeth. II. Bierhoff, Hans Werner, 1948
BJ1451 R48 2001
170dc21 00044634

ISBN 0-203-46873-2 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-77697-6 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-23530-8 (Print Edition)

Figures

Tables

Contributors

Ann Elisabeth Auhagen, Department of Social Psychology,WE8, FB12, Free University of Berlin, D-14195 Berlin.

Hans-Werner Bierhoff, Department of Social Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, D44780 Bochum.

Dieter Birnbacher, Philosophic Institute, Heinrich-Heine-University Dsseldorf, Universitaetsstr. 1, D40225 Dsseldorf.

Evelina Bhler-Ilieva,