Taking blame for antisocial acts and its relationship with personality

Abstract

The main aim of the present study was to investigate the motivation behind people taking the blame for another person’s antisocial acts. One thousand four hundred and thirty-two students in further education in Iceland completed a specially constructed Motivation for Taking Blame Scale (MTBS), along with personality tests measuring antisocial personality traits, self-esteem, and compliance. Two hundred and thirty-two (16%) claimed to have taken the blame for an antisocial act somebody else had done (mainly for property offences and criminal damage). The majority (70%) took the blame for a friend. Principal component analysis of the MTBS revealed five factors: Excitement, Pressure, Disregard, Avoidance, and Cover-up. EPQ Psychoticism was the single best predictor for the Excitement and Disregard motives, whereas GCS Compliance was the only significant predictor for the Pressure and Avoidance motives. The Cover-up motive, although the most commonly endorsed factor, had a poor relationship with the personality measures. There are a number of different motives for taking blame, but this is most commonly done to protect the guilty person and do him or her a favour. Personality, particularly personality disorder traits and compliance, are significant predictor variables for taking blame for others.