Weiner's Attribution-Emotion-Action Model: Uncovering the Mediating Role of Self-Blame and the Moderating Effect of the Helper's Responsibility for the Help Recipient's Behavior.

This article investigates how the helper's perceived responsibility for the help recipient's behavior (PRHHRB) and self-blame mediate and moderate Weiner's attribution-emotion-action model, particularly in the context of depression. Seven preregistered experimental studies found that while higher perceived controllability of depression typically reduces sympathy and willingness to help nonchild close others, this pattern is altered when parents consider their own child: controllability is either positively related or unrelated to sympathy. This divergence is explained by a weaker link between controllability and responsibility attributions for one's child, mediated by increased self-blame experienced by the helper. Further studies showed that this mechanism extends beyond parent–child relationships to any interpersonal context where the helper feels responsible for the recipient's behavior, highlighting the importance of distinguishing controllability from responsibility in attribution research and suggesting self-blame as a novel factor influencing helping behavior.