Pointing the finger: Introversion–extroversion, emotional intelligence, and neuroticism relations to judgments of transgressor blameworthiness

Abstract

Cognitive heuristics research has found that in several mathematical and social-appraising situations, individuals show a strong preference for simple explanations over complex explanations when judging causation and probability. However, unlike mathematics, social contexts—such as judging blameworthiness based on a transgressor’s excuse—are convoluted situations by nature of their greater likelihood of having diverse factors to converge and affect outcomes. The present study examines whether individuals’ Emotional Intelligence (EI), neuroticism (N), and introversion–extroversion (E) levels are related to their perceptions of transgressor blameworthiness, and whether the relations are moderated by the complexity of the excuse that is given. Undergraduate students completed EPQ-R-SF items for N and E, the TEQue-SF for EI, and read three vignettes: one presenting a simple (1-component) excuse, one a moderate (3-component) excuse, and one a complex (5-component) excuse. The Revised Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory was used to assess blame ratings for the transgressor in each vignette.