Abstract
Blame judgments may be impacted by choice at both a situational level (through vignette manipulation) and an individual level (assessments of attitudes). College students, 264 women and 73 men, from a central Texas university read one of six vignettes describing a target individual, a freshman student having academic problems, and completed free will and agency attitude items. Vignettes manipulated choice wording (made a choice, no choice, or neutral) and target’s background (inner city or advantaged). Greater blame was associated with a privileged background and with a choice mindset, but not with individual-level assessments for free will and agency. Perhaps using choice wording and describing a wealthier background leads to the perception that target individuals “could have done otherwise,” resulting in more blame.
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