Attributing “Third World Poverty” in Australia and Malawi: A Case of Donor zyxw Bias?’ zyx DANIELLE CAMPBELL zyxwv University of Newcastle Newcastle, Australia STUART C. CARR~ School zyxw of Social Sciences Northern Territory University Darwin. Australia MALCOLM MACLACHLAN Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Causal attributions for poverty in the developing world were examined from the perspec- tives of “actors” living in a “developing country” (Malawi) and “observers” living in a “developed zyxwvut country” (Australia). Ninety-eight Malawian and 100 Australian weekend shoppers responded to the Causes of Third World Poverty Questionnaire (CTWPQ) and the Just World Scale (JWS), with Australian participants also providing information about their frequency of donating to foreign-aid charities. Consistent with the actor-observer bias, Australians were more likely than were Malawians to attribute poverty to disposi- tional characteristics of the poor, rather than to situational factors. Among the Australians, situational attributions were in turn associated with frequency of donation behavior. The finding of a donor bias in this sample has important implications for the social marketing of foreign aid to Westem donor publics. The past three decades have witnessed repeated calls for psychology to address issues of development in developing countries (e.g., Mehryar, 1984; Sloan, 1990). Attempts to describe how psychology might contribute to such development have been varied. For instance, Connolly (1985) makes a case for the involvement of psychologists in technology transfer, health care, and popula- tion control in developing countries. Connolly ’s argument, however, has been criticized for its implicit racism (Revell, 1985) and its “colonial” approach (Moghaddam zyxwvu & Taylor, 1986). In contrast, Moghaddam (1990) has called for the ‘The authors wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful advice with regard to the final version of this paper. We also wish to thank the shoppers of Zomba market- place in Malawi, and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, for their time and participation. Quent Walker, of the University of Malawi, is acknowledged for her valuable assistance in the early stages of this project. ZCorrespondenceconcerning this article should be addressed to Stuart C. Cam, School of Social Sciences, Northern Temtory University, Darwin, Northern Territory, NT 0909, Australia. zyx Journal ofApplied zyxwvutsr Social Psychology, 2001,31,2. pp. 409-430. Copyright 0 2001 by V. H. Winston 8 Son, Inc. All rights reserved.