An Attributional Analysis of Reactions to Magic Johnson' zy SANDRA GRAHAM? BERNARD WEINER, TRACI GIULIANO, AND ESTELLA WILLIAMS zyxw University of California, zyxwv Los Angeles Principles from attribution theory were used to analyze public reactions to the health status of Magic Johnson. An experimental study containing two distinct samples (college students and African-American adults) together with supplemental reports from local and national media confirm the value of this approach. The findings show that inferences about causal responsibility are related to affective reactions of sympathy and anger toward Magic Johnson. Implications for attribution theory, as well as for future attitudes toward Magic Johnson, are discussed. The story of Magic Johnson, the renowned basketball star who has been infected with the zyxwvu AIDS virus, recently pervaded the popular press and media, not only in the United States but around the world as well. This tragic event evokes many emotions and public issues: sympathy for one of our most popular sports heroes; anger both at him for his behavior and toward the government for not more fully attacking the disease; fear regard- ing personal infection; and pity because the virus is known to produce great suffering and eventually death. For the psychologist, a challenging task is to step back from his or her own feelings in order to comprehend more fully the issues, emotions, and contro- versies surrounding Magic Johnson. One means of achieving such under- standing is to incorporate this specific event within an existing theoretical framework. Besides promoting understanding, a conceptual analysis of this particular instance can facilitate theory construction and revision as new data are being generated and displayed in everyday life. Given the breadth of this topic, any number of psychological theories could prove useful in the search for comprehension and interpretation. These range from broad and uncon- sciously focused psychoanalytic conceptions, which might yield insights into the reactions to the fall of a hero (father), to more circumscribed and less arcane conceptions such as social comparison theory, which points out that our thoughts and feelings are in part determined by comparisons with others. In this paper, attribution theory serves as the guiding framework through which we hope to elucidate reactions to Magic Johnson. This theoretical 'This research was supported by Grant #DBS 921 1982 from the National Science Foundation to Sandra Graham and Bernard Weiner. We arc grateful to Barry Collins, Brett Pelham, and especially Alan Swinkels for their help with data collection. 'Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sandra Graham, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024. 996 zyxw Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, zyxwvu 12, pp. 996-1010. Copyright @ 1993 by V. H. Winston 8, Inc. All rights reserved