Attribution Of Blame Research Articles

Altered body as a source of interactional problems in the family of individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 - A polish study.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder, whose clinical picture is dominated by visible body changes as well as numerous somatic and behavioural abnormalities. The aim of the study was to explore the ways in which the individual experiences NF1 in everyday life, with particular emphasis on the impact of the altered body on family interactions, in addition to the personal and social identity of individuals with NF1. A qualitative study was performed using individual in-depth interviews with 93 individuals with NF1 (median age: 36.69; range: 18 to 64; 26% males). Body changes caused by NF1 determine the specificity of social interactions in the families of the sick. The strength and direction of the impact of body changes on social interactions depends on their type (visibility, invisibility), as well as the meanings given to them. The visibility of disease lesions triggers an attitude of excessive control and stigmatization in the family, especially on the part of the mothers of individuals with NF1, and prompts a tendency to define the individual through the prism of the disease and its bodily manifestations. In turn, the lack of visibility of disease symptoms gives rise to, especially on the part of the fathers of the sick, opposing attitudes of disease denial, normalization of its symptoms and a tendency to question the disease identity of individuals with NF1. The great intensity of interactional problems concerns especially those families in which NF1 was transmitted through inheritance, and family members blame each other for the disease. This leads to repression and denial of the disease, excluding it from the scope of issues discussed in the family, which is an attempt to avoid the attribution of blame for the disease. The body changes resulting from NF1 have social consequences that are of critical importance in the lives of the sick. The impact of NF1 on family interactions depends on the ways in which the disease is understood by the sick individual and his or her family members. The obtained patient-driven data constitute a convenient starting point for designing personalized interventions supporting individuals with NF1 and their families.

Индивидуальные факторы атрибуции вины сторонними наблюдателями в ситуации насилия в отношении женщин

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective.</strong> Analysis of the relationship between the individual psychological and sociodemographic characteristics of bystanders and their tendency to blame the victim. <br><strong>Background. </strong>Despite the fact that the responsibility for violence always on the agressor, blaming the victim is still a common phenomenon. Currently, the factors of victim blaming are widely studied abroad, but there are contradictions in the obtained data. There is an insufficient amount of research in Russia, and existing research mainly concerns global factors, such as the role of the media. <br><strong>Study design. </strong>The study examined individual psychological and social-demographic characteristics of the groups of bystanders who choose different strategies of blame attribution in a situation of violence. According to the results of the author's questionnaire, respondents were divided into three groups: blaming the aggressor, blaming the victim and inconsistent in blaming. The groups were compared by self-attitude, empathy, basic beliefs, sociodemographic characteristics and awareness of various aspects of the problem of violence. The differences between the groups were verified through the comparative analysis. <br><strong>Participants. </strong>Russian sample, 91 people (38,5% of men, 61,5% of women) from 19 to 68 years old (<em>M</em> = 32,3; <em>SD</em> = 13,6). <br><strong>Measurements. </strong>Vignettes containing descriptions of violent situations and options for attributing blame to participants in the situations. Author's questionnaire for sociodemographic data and data about awareness of violence, personal experience related to this topic. Multidimensional questionnaire of self-attitude research by S.R. Panteleev, “Diagnostics of empathy level” by V.V. Boyko, Russian version of World assumptions scale by M.A. Padun, A.V. Kotelnikova. <br><strong>Results. </strong>We found significant differences between the groups according to the characteristics of self-attitude: the level of self-attachment in the group blaming the aggressor is significantly different from the level of self-attachment in other groups, the level of self-control in the group blaming the aggressor is significantly different from the level of self-control in the group blaming the victim. Significant differences in the level of believes in a just world between the group blaming the aggressor and other groups have been revealed. There were no significant differences in the characteristics of empathy. The groups considered differ significantly in assessing the significance of the problem of violence, awareness of the phenomenon of victim-blaming, the presence of the professional, volunteer or studying experience of interacting with a victim of violence, age and place of residence. <br><strong>Conclusions. </strong>Identify the Individual factors of victim blaming in the Russian sample. The more the respondent believes in the just world, the higher the level of self-attachment and self-control, the more likely he is to blame the victim. The following individual factors are associated with a lower probability of victim-blaming: assessment of the problem of violence as more significant, awareness of the existence of such a phenomenon as “victim-blaming”, the professional, volunteer or studying experience of interacting with a victim of violence, young age and living in a megalopolis.</p>

The effects of artificial intelligence and victims’ deservingness information on citizens’ blame attribution towards administrative errors

ABSTRACT This study examines how citizens attribute blame to government authorities for administrative errors made by artificial intelligence (AI) compared to human decision-makers. Based on blame attribution theory, we conducted a vignette-based survey experiment with 1,098 Chinese citizens, revealing that respondents assign less blame for errors caused by AI or AI-assisted decisions. Additionally, disclosing victims’ deservingness information heightened blame attribution. These findings contribute to the literature on administrative accountability, highlighting how citizens respond to AI-related errors and informing the growing use of AI in public sector decision-making.

Bystanders’ Reactions to a Woman Victim of Sextortion: Moral Outrage, Victim Blaming and Reputational Damage

ABSTRACTSextortion is a scantly investigated crime in which entrusted authority is abused to obtain sex in exchange for a service or benefit. Based on the literature on gender violence, in the present research, we examined the role of moral evaluations of the victims in predicting potential bystanders’ attitudes and behavioural intentions towards a woman who is a victim of a sextortion incident. In three experimental studies conducted with Italian participants (Study 1: n = 291; Study 2: n = 288; Study 3: n = 331), participants read a scenario describing a woman victim of sextortion and then rated the victim on moral outrage, moral evaluation, blame attribution, perceived reputational damage, and indicated their willingness to help her. The results highlighted that the victim was always perceived as less moral and more blameworthy when she caved into sextortion (vs. not). Furthermore, a sequential mediation model showed that, across all studies, caving into (vs. resisting) sextortion elicited stronger feelings of moral outrage towards the victim, as well as the perception of lower morality, which, in turn, reduced the willingness to offer help. In Study 3, this pattern was significant only when the woman reported the incident 1 year later (vs. 1 week). Current findings show that the peculiar transactional nature of sexual abuse makes sextortion victims appear to be complicit in the act. Thus, recognising the power dynamics through which sextortion can be used to exploit and abuse individuals is paramount to avoid secondary victimisation.

Moral reasoning in a digital age: blaming artificial intelligence for incorrect high-risk decisions

AbstractThe increasing involvement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in moral decision situations raises the possibility of users attributing blame to AI-based systems for negative outcomes. In two experimental studies with a total of $$N = 911$$ participants, we explored the attribution of blame and underlying moral reasoning. Participants had to classify mushrooms in pictures as edible or poisonous with support of an AI-based app. Afterwards, participants read a fictitious scenario in which a misclassification due to an erroneous AI recommendation led to the poisoning of a person. In the first study, increased system transparency through explainable AI techniques reduced blaming of AI. A follow-up study showed that attribution of blame to each actor in the scenario depends on their perceived obligation and capacity to prevent such an event. Thus, blaming AI is indirectly associated with mind attribution and blaming oneself is associated with the capability to recognize a wrong classification. We discuss implications for future research on moral cognition in the context of human–AI interaction.

GHB, Chemsex and Chemical Submission: Investigating the Role of Sexuality on Victim Empathy and Blame Attribution in Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault against Men.

Literature is sparse regarding men's attitudes towards male sexual assault and the role that the sexuality of those involved may have. Despite the high prevalence of chemsex and GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) participation among men who have sex with men, no study has yet investigated attitudes towards such. Utilising a community sample of 141 UK men, participants were randomly assigned into one of six conditions based on victim sexuality (heterosexual or homosexual) and the drug used present during the sexual assault (chemsex, chemical submission, or no drugs). All participants completed the Male Rape Victim and Perpetrator Blaming Scale and Victim-Blaming Empathy Scale to measure victim-blame and empathy attributions. Results of a two-way MANOVA revealed a significant difference between participant gender and empathic ratings, with heterosexual participants significantly less likely to empathise than their homosexual counterparts. A non-significant difference was observed between the conditions alongside a non-significant interaction. Nevertheless, results indicate that victims in the chemsex condition, along with heterosexual victims, encountered the greatest victim-blaming attributions and the lowest rates of participant empathy overall. Findings overall appear to indicate a general decline in victim-blame attitudes towards men who have sex with men, though a level of uncertainty was apparent among the sample. Implications and limitations of the work are discussed alongside the importance of future research and psychoeducation interventions.

Narrative identity in context: How adults in Japan, Denmark, Israel, and the United States narrate difficult life events.

Integrating the selective reconstruction of the past with an imagined future, narrative identity is a person's internalized and evolving story of the self, functioning to provide life with some degree of meaning and purpose (McAdams & McLean, 2013). While narrative identity has been found to be associated with a range of psychological and social phenomena (e.g., Adler et al., 2015; McAdams & Guo, 2015), cross-national variation in narrative identity has been only minimally examined. For the purposes of the current inquiry, 438 adults from the United States (N = 102), Japan (N = 122), Israel (N = 103), and Denmark (N = 111) wrote narratives on adversity (low point and life challenge) and completed self-report measures on psychological well-being. Part 1 examined the narrative topics discussed, the frequency of narrative indices (redemption, contamination, agency, communion, meaning-making), and their relationship to well-being across the four countries, finding the most cultural difference in levels of redemption and meaning-making and the kinds of events narrated. Part 2 involved a qualitative, thematic analysis of the Japanese, Danish, and Israeli narratives to derive a set of narrative indices characterizing each country. Several emerged in the Japanese narratives (acceptance, attribution of blame, unresolved), the Danish narratives (balanced affect, communal growth, normality), and Israeli narratives (collective responsibility). Taken together, our findings regarding narratives of adversity support the idea that narrative identity cannot be fully captured without an understanding of culture but needs to instead be studied in tandem with the cultural context in which stories reside. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of target populations in resident support for local collaboration

AbstractThe characteristics of populations benefiting from collaboration are mostly regarded as contextual factors in collaborative theory and research. Drawing on policy design and distributive justice theories, this study seeks to understand how public support for collaboration varies depending on the characteristics of the target population that benefits from collective action. The analysis demonstrates that collaborative arrangements aiding populations considered deserving are more likely to gain public approval than those benefiting negatively constructed groups. We also investigate citizens' attribution of blame for collaboration failure and find that the process appears to be independent of the characteristics of target populations.

The Blame Game: The Role of Media Environments and Political Discussion in Americans’ Attribution of Blame for Interparty Hostility

Abstract Polarization and hostility between political parties is a dominant feature of politics in the United States and is growing in many other democracies worldwide. Yet, there remain questions of who the public blames for this hostility and how those attributions of blame emerge. This study examines the role of partisan strength, political media exposure, and political discussion on blame for partisan hostility. Analyses of survey data (YouGov) collected during the 2020 U.S. presidential election suggest that political discussions play a particularly strong role in shaping attributions of blame, while partisan strength and political media exposure are relatively less influential. The data also indicate that who one talks to about politics matters for placing blame, as conversations with like-minded partisans lead to more blame placed on the out-party and less blame on the in-party, whereas political discussions with people who hold different views can temper out-party blame. Overall, findings suggest that political discussion may matter more than political media exposure for attributions of blame for partisan hostility.

Nigerian Graduates as Newcomers in the Workplace: Making Sense of Transitioning Into the Industry

ABSTRACT Nigeria’s higher education system is plagued with diverse structural challenges. However, little research has explored its impact on the achievement of career goals of graduates of this system, especially in the workplace. This study adopts sense-making and blame attribution theories to investigate the experiences of Nigeria’s graduates in their workplaces. After a qualitative analysis of narrative interviews, this study argues that (1) blame attribution forms an anchor to organize narratives of sense-making within an organization; (2) Nigerian graduates blame their education, workplace, and self for the challenges they encounter. Self-blame can potentially shed light on newcomers’ sense-making of their difficult transitioning experiences. The analysis identifies a tripartite problem where these three distinct, but interconnected entities are viewed as responsible for post-graduation challenges in the workplace. Thus, the results demonstrate the need to extend blame attribution theory from its current focus on either external or internal blame targets to understanding individuals within an organizational context potentially blaming both internal and external factors simultaneously for workplace challenges.

Narratives of Resistance: Discursive Strategies in Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS Protest

The #EndSARS hashtag, which started in 2017, was one of the tools used to share, on Twitter, experiences and advocacy on police brutality in Nigeria. Extant works have explored the use of social media for civic engagement, consciousness re-awakening, counter-narratives and societal disruption, amongst other uses. The present study focuses on how discursive strategies of resistance were deployed to create and sustain agitations using Twitter as a mobilising force of mass movement to achieve political goals. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with insights from computer-assisted textual analysis was used to analyse a corpus of 1,000 tweets with the #EndSARS hashtag. Findings show that blame attribution, recontexualisation of events, categorisation, victim positioning, and cross-border appeal are discursive resistance strategies used to sustain solidarity, create bonds and negotiate power among the marginalised people. Through these, protesters were able to create defiance and directive acts in the people. These strategies not only create a contest for political power between the government and the masses but also help in the construction of a resistance ideology among the people. Hence, new perspectives on social media should consider the paradigm shift that has resulted in how narratives are sustained and negotiated during online social movements.

Cutback management: Strategy, blame attribution, and evaluation of government

AbstractCutback management literature examines how governments engage strategies and maintain organizational performance in times of resource decline. While much of this literature has focused on financial outcomes, in this study we incorporate citizen evaluation of government as the outcome of interest. Additionally, we assess how blame attribution for the resource decline influences citizen evaluations. Using an online survey experiment, we bridge the literatures of cutback management, citizen evaluation of government, and blame attribution to explore how citizens evaluate governments by financial decisions and blame for a deficit. Results show that less blame improves citizen evaluations for each cutback strategy.

The persistence of toxic online messages influences perceptions of harm and attributions of blame

Abstract Researchers often use attribution theory to understand how people make sense of messages. Unlike the ephemeral actions typically investigated using attribution frameworks, messages can persist. Our study observed how persistence influences the harmfulness of messages and how people levy blame upon harmful posters and those ostensibly obligated and capable of intervening. Grounded in the path model of blame, a randomized experiment (N = 520) tested whether persistence cues in an online environment (low vs high message persistence) influenced appraisals of the harmfulness of online toxicity (i.e., sexism on Reddit), inferences of mental states for relevant agents (e.g., awareness, capacity), attributions of blame, and motives to respond. Results indicated that greater persistence increased perceived harmfulness and motivated individuals to place greater blame upon inactive/ineffective moderators who were capable of intervening.

Where Do Citizens Place Blame for Service Delivery Failure? A Closer Look at Public-Private Partnerships

This study examines citizens’ attribution of blame for a failure of public-private partnerships (PPPs) using a survey experiment with a sample of more than 1500 Americans. We find that when service delivery fails, citizens tend to attribute less blame to public actors if the service is delivered by a PPP rather than solely by the government. Additionally, introducing citizen participation in service delivery design reduces the blame assigned to the government in direct service provision, but this effect does not extend to services provided via PPPs. These findings deepen our understanding of how emerging service delivery models affect citizens’ attitudes toward the government.

Mindsets at Work: Understanding the Positive Impact of Growth Mindsets on Workplace Coaching

Understanding mindsets is crucial to understanding coaching behavior. Recent research has demonstrated that growth mindsets have both positive (i.e., increased outcome expectancy) and negative (i.e., increased blame attributions) effects on prosocial behavior. However, little is known about the role of these two opposing effects in work settings, especially when considering the history of competence- and morality-related failure of people receiving coaching. To address this gap, we conducted four experiments (N = 2,295), which consistently revealed that a growth mindset (mediated through outcome expectancy) was positively related to willingness to coach. However, there was no evidence of detrimental effects via blame attributions, regardless of the recipient’s failure history. Therefore, promoting growth mindsets in organizations likely contributes to a supportive workplace culture.

Let's talk populist? A survey experiment on effects of (non‐) populist discourse on vote choice

AbstractPopulism research has found much scholarly and public attention alike in recent years. Most research has focused on how populism can be defined, assessed or even measured. Even though there are emerging studies on populist messages, few of them have paid attention on causally identifying ways in which discourse can affect support for populist actors. This article positions itself within this gap and aims to answer which discursive elements make (non‐)populist messages appealing to varying groups of people. To answer this research question, I conducted a novel survey experiment on vote choice in Germany from December 2020 to January 2021 with N = 3325. Respondents were asked to choose between two candidate statements that displayed varying discursive elements. Thus, the experiment causally tested whether people‐centric rhetoric, blame attributive languages or populist style focusing on language complexity drive the populist vote. Results show that a neutral form of blame attribution, namely towards politicians, had the highest probability of driving vote choice, irrespective of respondents' underlying ideological preferences or populist attitudes. Simple language nearly always has a negative effect on vote choice, whereas people‐centrism adds a positive touch. These results show that there may be an increasing dissatisfaction with democracy that is voiced by blaming political elites for the malfunctioning of society.

Framing Layoffs: Media Coverage, Blame Attribution, and Trade-Related Policy Responses

Framing Layoffs: Media Coverage, Blame Attribution, and Trade-Related Policy Responses

It’s all your fault! restaurant vs. platform blame attribution in food delivery service failures

PurposeWhile third-party food delivery continues to increase in popularity, surveys suggest nearly a quarter of deliveries suffer from service failures. With the limited research on third-party food delivery, we explore the important questions of (1) where customers place blame in the case of service failures with third-party food delivery (i.e. the platform or the restaurant) and (2) does this depend on the type of service failure? Drawing on blame attribution theory, signaling theory, and an exploratory study, we demonstrate that customers typically perceive such mishaps to be the responsibility of the restaurant rather than the delivery platform itself. We also examine the effect of visible service failure preventative actions taken by the restaurant on blame attribution and re-order intention.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted two online scenario-based studies to explore customer blame attribution in the case of third-party food delivery service failure. First, an exploratory study approach (NStudy1 = 512) was taken to provide additional support for the hypothesis development. An experiment (NStudy2 = 252) was then conducted to examine the hypothesized effects.FindingsFirst, the results of an exploratory study demonstrate that customers attribute service failures such as wrong items, missing items, cold food, or leaking containers to restaurants over third-party food delivery platforms. Second, the results of an experimental study suggest inclusion of an observable cue indicating preventative action, such as time-stamp information indicating when an order was received and packaged for delivery, increases customer re-order intention through the underlying mechanism of blame attribution.Originality/valueWe contribute to the underexplored area of third-party food delivery service failure and to our understanding of blame attribution in service failure scenarios. Further, we demonstrate a practical method to shift the blame away from restaurants for service failures that are outside of the establishment’s control.

‘Who's to blame?’ matters: The role of attributions in employees' emotional and behavioural responses to career inaction

AbstractCareer inaction, or failing to act adequately for a period of time to make a desired change in one's career, is quite common in the workplace. Despite this, research regarding how it affects employees at work is very limited. Using attribution theory and stress research, we propose an integrated view of how employees interpret and respond to career inaction differently. Specifically, we establish the idea of blame attributions for career inaction (i.e., self‐ and other‐directed blame attribution) and investigate how they relate to employees' emotional and behavioural responses to career inaction. We conducted three studies to address the research questions: a scenario‐based experiment with 315 workers, a three‐wave survey with 302 full‐time employees and a daily diary study of 123 hospital nurses across five consecutive working days. The findings revealed that when faced with career inaction, employees who blame themselves are more likely to experience anxiety, while those who blame others tend to experience anger. Anxiety and anger are further linked to work withdrawal and interpersonal deviance respectively. Overall, we contribute to the advancement of career inaction theory and career management practices.

The effects of observing punishment on consumers’ decisions to punish other companies during industry-wide crises

AbstractIndustry-wide crises, characterized by multiple companies within an industry allegedly engaging in similar misconduct, lead to disruptions in the social order. During such crises, one or a few of the involved companies often attract more media attention and receive punishment ahead of the others. Will such punishments take the heat off other involved companies or increase their risk of further punishment? This research shows that the observation of these punishments increases consumers’ intent to punish other involved companies. Observing one involved company get punished signals that the involved companies are indeed at fault, thereby increasing consumers’ certainty in blame attribution. Subsequently, consumers increase their motive to restore social order and their intent to punish other involved companies. Four theoretically and managerially relevant moderators have been identified and tested. Seven studies involving secondary data and experiments with both hypothetical and real behavioral outcomes support the proposed effects.