Blame Others Research Articles

Hypocritical Blame, Fairness, and Standing

AbstractThis paper argues that hypocritical blame renders blame inappropriate. Someone should not express her blame if she is guilty of the same thing for which she is blaming others, in the absence of an admission of fault. In failing to blame herself for the same violations of norms she condemns in another, the hypocrite evinces important moral faults, which undermine her right to blame. The hypocrite refuses or culpably fails to admit her own mistakes, while at the same time demands that others admit theirs. The paper argues that this lack of reciprocity—expecting others to take morality seriously by apologizing for their faults, without one doing the same in return—is what makes hypocritical blame unfair.

Self-Blame and Blaming Others Mediate a Belief in a Just World and Hwa-Byung: a Structural Equation Model

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of self-blame and the blaming of others on the relationships between Hwa-Byung (meaning “anger illness” in Korean) and beliefs in a just world for the self (believing that a world is fair to oneself) and for others (believing that a world is fair to others), among 252 adults in South Korea. Our structural equation modeling analyses revealed that low justice beliefs for the self were directly associated with Hwa-Byung, and they indirectly influenced Hwa-Byung through an increased tendency to blame others.

The role of self-serving cognitive distortions in reactive and proactive aggression.

Aggression is often divided into reactive and proactive forms. Reactive aggression is typically thought to encompass 'blaming others' and 'assuming the worst', while proactive aggression relates to 'self-centeredness' and 'minimising/mislabelling'. Our aim was to evaluate relationships between reactive and proactive aggression and cognitive distortions and to test whether changes in these cognitions relate to changes in aggression. A total of 151 adolescents (60% boys; mean age 15.05years, standard deviation 1.28) were enrolled in an evidence-based intervention to reduce aggression. Due to attrition and anomalous responses, the post-intervention sample involved 80 adolescents. Correlation and linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between cognitive distortions and aggression. Blaming others was related to reactive aggression before the intervention, while all cognitive distortions were related to proactive aggression both pre- and post-intervention. Changes in reactive aggression were uniquely predicted by blaming others, while changes in proactive aggression were predicted by changes in cognitive distortions overall. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show a relationship between changes in cognitive distortions and changes in aggression. Treatment of reactive aggression may benefit from focusing primarily on reducing cognitive distortions involving misattribution of blame to others. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cognitive emotional regulation in Romanian general medicine students

IntroductionDuring medical school, students experience significant amounts of stress. Since certain emotion regulatory strategies are known to be maladaptive, the way in which students are capable to regulate their emotions becomes very important, because it can affect their physical and mental welfare.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to assess cognitive emotion regulation strategies in Romanian general medicine (GM) students.MethodsThe study was conducted between 2015–2016 on 86 sixth-year Romanian GM undergraduates from the Timisoara “Victor Babes” university of medicine and pharmacy. In order to identify the cognitive emotion regulation strategies (or cognitive coping strategies) that students use after experiencing negative situations or life events we used the Romanian version of the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ).ResultsThe sample consisted of 30 (34.9%) males and 56 (65.1%) females, with ages ranging between 24 and 31 years (mean age = 24.97 years, SD = 1.74). Compared to female students, males obtained significantly lower mean scores in “umination” (t = -2.84, P = 0.005, 95% CI = -1.64; -0.29), “positive refocusing” (t = -2.09, P = 0.037, 95% CI = -1.42; -0.04) and “catastrophizing” (t = -3.17, P = 0.002, 95% CI = -1.31; -0.3). Both male and female GM students had significantly higher mean scores in “blaming others” than their respectively gender-related general population.ConclusionsResults of this study suggest that GM students, when facing stressful or negative events, are more inclined in using “blaming others” as a coping strategy. Female students seem to be more inclined than males to use “rumination”, “catastrophizing” and “positive refocusing” as cognitive coping mechanisms.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

躯体症状障碍患者认知情绪调节与临床症状的相关性研究

目的：研究躯体症状障碍患者认知情绪调节与抑郁、焦虑、躯体化症状的关系。方法：应用认知情绪调节问卷(CERQ-C)、抑郁自评量表(SDS)、焦虑自评量表(SAS)、症状自评量表(SCL-90)对160例躯体症状障碍患者进行测评，运用Pearson相关分析、多元线性回归分析，分析躯体症状障碍患者认知情绪调节与抑郁、焦虑、躯体化症状的相关性。结果：积极认知情绪调节平均(54.24 ± 9.91分)，消极认知情绪调节平均(45.31 ± 6.93分)，抑郁得分平均(44.32 ± 9.31分)，焦虑得分平均(38.43 ± 6.82分)。接受、积极重新评价、理性分析、灾难化、责难他人的调节策略在不同抑郁状态躯体症状障碍患者中的应用情况具有明显的差异(p < 0.01)，接受、积极重新评价、理性分析、灾难化、责难他人的调节策略在不同焦虑状态躯体症状障碍患者中的应用情况具有明显的差异(p < 0.01)，线性回归分析表明认知情绪调节各分量表分别可以解释抑郁总变异量的69.2%、焦虑总变异量的54.4%、躯体化症状总变异量的43.4%。自我责难、积极重新关注、积极重新评价、理性分析、灾难化是能够预测抑郁的主要变量；自我责难、接受、沉思、积极重新关注、积极关注计划、积极重新评价、理性分析、灾难化是能够预测焦虑的主要变量。结论：躯体症状障碍患者情绪调节与抑郁、焦虑、躯体化症状有密切联系，其中自我责难、积极重新评价、灾难化为抑郁、焦虑、躯体化症状共有的主要预测指标。本研究为进一步探讨躯体症状障碍患者的抑郁、焦虑、躯体化症状的形成提供了一定的依据。 Objective: To research the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation and depression, anxiety and somatization symptom about the patients with somatic disorders. Methods: Applied cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, self-rating depression Scale, self-rating anxiety scale and self-reporting inventory have an evaluation to 160 cases of patients with somatic disorders, using Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis to analyze the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation and depression, anxiety and somatic symptoms in patients with physical disorders. Results: Positive cognitive emotion regulation is average (54.24 + 9.91 points); negative cognitive emotion regulation is average (45.31 + 6.93 points); depression score is average (44.32 + 9.31 points). Anxiety score is average (38.43 + 6.82). Acceptance, positive re evaluation, rational analysis, disaster and blame others for the adjustment strategy in the application of different forms of depression in patients with somatic disorders have obvious differences. Self-blame, Acceptance, contemplation, re-attention, re-focus on planning, positive re-evaluation, rational analysis, disaster and blame others for the adjustment strategy in the application of different forms of Anxiety in patients with somatic disorders have obvious differences. Linear regression analysis showed that each component table of Cognitive emotion regulation can explain 69.2% of Total variance of depression, 54.4% of Total variance of anxiety, 5.5% of Total variation of somatic symptoms. Self blame, positive re-attention, positive re-evaluation, rational analysis and disaster are able to predict the main variables of depression. Self blame, acceptance, contemplation, positive re-attention, re- focus on planning, positive re-evaluation, rational analysis, disaster are able to predict the main va-riables of anxiety. Conclusion: There was a close relationship between Emotion regulation in pa-tients with somatic disorders and depression, anxiety and Somatic symptoms. Self blame, positive re-evaluation and disaster were respectively the main predictors of depression, anxiety and somatic symptoms. This research is for further discussions about the formation of depression, anxiety and somatic symptoms in patients with somatic disorders to provide a certain basis.

Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation, Childhood Trauma and Proneness to Shame and Guilt in Adolescence.

Dispositional shame and guilt have been associated with psychopathology and an increasing number of studies have traced this relation back to adolescence. This developmental period is thought to be characterized by maturational changes in emotion regulation, which also play an important role in vulnerability to psychopathology, but little is known about the links between emotion regulation and dispositional shame and guilt. The current study investigated the relations between individual differences in the habitual use of a wide range of emotion regulation strategies and proneness to shame and guilt in a large sample of adolescents (N = 706), aged 13 to 17 years. History of childhood trauma was also assessed. Our results showed that emotion regulation independently explained about 20% of the variance of shame-proneness and guilt-proneness. Higher use of maladaptive (e.g., Self-Blaming, Catastrophizing) and lower use of adaptive (e.g., Refocus on Planning, Positive Reappraisal) emotion regulation strategies were positively associated with shame-proneness. In contrast, lower use of maladaptive (e.g., Catastrophizing, Blaming Others) and higher use of adaptive (e.g., Refocus on Planning, Positive Reappraisal) emotion regulation strategies were associated with guilt-proneness, independent of the influence of childhood trauma, which also explained a relatively minor portion of guilt-proneness. Although there were age differences (i.e., rumination was used more by older adolescents, and the influence of emotion regulation on depression and anxiety symptoms increased with age) and sex differences (i.e., girls reported higher use of Putting into Perspective and Other Blaming compared to boys) in emotion regulation, age and sex were not significantly associated with proneness to shame and guilt. The positive relations with maladaptive emotion regulation underscores the dysfunctional nature of shame-proneness. Future studies could use longitudinal measures to establish that emotion regulation drives dispositional shame and guilt, and also investigate whether emotion regulation optimization is able to normalize proneness to shame and guilt and reduce risk for psychopathology.

Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms Among Inpatients

ABSTRACTObjective: The aim of this research was to determine whether statistically significant differences exist in the clinical presentation (symptoms) of depressive disorders in men and women and, if so, what are they reflected in.Material and Method: The study included 150 patients between the ages of 18 and 65 who have been hospitalized due to a major depressive disorder according to the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV classification, at the Psychiatric Clinic in Novi Sad, Serbia. Patients with comorbid physical or other mental disorders were not included. Within the research process, during the first day of hospitalization, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale with 21 items was administered, while 12 other symptoms of depression (specific quality of the depression, pessimism, stability of depression to environmental influences, ideas of impoverishment, worthlessness, blaming of others, social isolation, anhedonia, monoideism, self-pity, dependence on others, and manipulativeness) were assessed using th...

Living with a diagnosis of behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia: The person's experience.

Research investigating behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia has concentrated on identifying and quantifying people's difficulties; yet few studies have considered how people with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia make sense of their difficulties. Five participants were interviewed and interpretive phenomenological analysis used to analyse the data. Two superordinate themes emerged: 'Bewilderment' and 'Relationships with others'. 'Bewilderment' reflected the feelings of the participants from the start of their dementia, and was divided into two main themes (1) 'Awareness of change: What's the problem? and (2) Threats to self: This is not me. The superordinate theme, 'Relationships with others', reflected difficulties with social relationships and comprised two main themes (1) 'Family and friends: Things haven't changed… but do I say anything wrong?' and (2) Coping with threats to self: Blame others or just avoid them. The themes were discussed in relation to literature evaluating the difficulties associated with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia together with implications for clinical practice.

Applicants with a Tarnished Past: Stealing Thunder and Overcoming Prior Wrongdoing

Prior negative performance and wrongdoing are difficult for applicants to overcome during their job search. The result has often been that they resort to lies and deception in order to obtain employment. The present study examines “stealing thunder” as a trust repair tactic that might be useful for overcoming prior indiscretions when it is used by applicants during the selection interview process. Stealing thunder refers to the self-disclosure of negative information that preempts allegations of wrongdoing by third parties such as hiring managers. Data were collected (n = 184) using a scenario-based 2 (accept responsibility; blame others) X 2 (low, high likelihood of discovery) experimental design in which perceptions of integrity, trust, and employability were measured. Results indicated that a stealing thunder strategy that involved accepting responsibility under a low likelihood of transgression discovery led to higher ratings of trust than blaming others when discovery of wrongdoing was imminent. The stealing thunder strategy was somewhat more effective than when a traditional, post-allegation apology was used. But stealing thunder did not lead to higher levels of an overall willingness to hire the applicant.

There Should Not Be Shame in Sharing Responsibility: An Alternative to May’s Social Existentialist Vision

Some of the greatest harms perpetrated by human beings—mass murders, for example—are directly caused by a small number of individuals, yet the full force of the transgressions would not obtain without the indirect contributions of many others. To combat such evils, Larry May (1992) argues that we ought to cultivate a sense of shared responsibility within communities. More specifically, we ought to develop a propensity to feel ashamed of ourselves when we choose to be associated with others who transgress. Grant that we ought to assume greater moral responsibility for contributing to harms that we do not directly commit. My goal is to challenge May’s claim that we should move towards a shame culture, and to argue that we ought to focus on cultivating empathy-based care and guilt instead. An established research program spearheaded by June Tangney (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007) has shown that individuals who are disposed to feel shame are more likely to hide from scrutiny, blame others, get angry, and become aggressive. Cultivating shame, in short, is a recipe for increasing antisocial behavior. Policies that promote feelings of empathy-based care and guilt, however, seem better designed to achieve the desired result, namely, minimizing the harms caused by groups.

Implementing Cognitive Processing Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder With Active Duty U.S. Military Personnel: Special Considerations and Case Examples

Numerous studies and reports document the prevalence of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military personnel returning from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense recommend cognitive processing therapy (CPT) as one of two first-line treatment options for patients with PTSD. CPT is an evidence-based, trauma-focused cognitive treatment for PTSD that has been shown to be efficacious in a wide variety of populations, but has just begun to be implemented with active duty military. The purpose of this article is to describe treatment considerations that may be pertinent to active duty populations, including stigma related to mental health treatment and minimization of symptoms, duty obligations, and special factors related to rank and occupational specialties. We provide recommendations for navigating these issues within the CPT protocol. Additionally, we discuss common themes that may be especially relevant when conducting CPT with an active duty military population, including blame/responsibility, the military ethos, erroneous blame of others, just-world beliefs, traumatic loss, fear of harming others, and moral injury. Case examples illustrating the use of CPT to address these themes are provided.

Survey the counterproductive behavior with excitement adjustment and personality traits (Case study: National Oil Company of South Oil)

Abstract. The present study is to survey the role of excitement cognitive adjustment and identification categories on emerging the counterproductive behavior. For this purpose, 306 samples of engineering management employees and the drilling national company building of Iran South Oil areas were selected using random sampling in order to exploit Corcoran formula. Used data by 3 questionnaires of Bent and Robison's (2003) counterproductive behavior, Persian questionnaire BFI (Oliver and Gohen, 1991) for identity categories, and questionnaire Persian form of cognitive excitement adjustment (2012) was collected and tested by Pearson-correlation test. The study results showed that there has been a meaningful relation in neurosis, empiricism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, blame himself, coping, positive thinking, blame others, cognitive excitement adjustment except extrovert, but there is a negative relation among empiricism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, blame himself, coping, positive thinking, blame others, cognitive excitement adjustment and extrovert except neurosis.

Negative emotions towards others are diminished in remitted major depression

BackgroundOne influential view is that vulnerability to major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with a proneness to experience negative emotions in general. In contrast, blame attribution theories emphasise the importance of blaming oneself rather than others for negative events. Our previous exploratory study provided support for the attributional hypothesis that patients with remitted MDD show no overall bias towards negative emotions, but a selective bias towards emotions entailing self-blame relative to emotions that entail blaming others. More specifically, we found a decreased proneness for contempt/disgust towards others relative to oneself (i.e. self-contempt bias). Here, we report a definitive test of the competing general negative versus specific attributional bias theories of MDD. MethodsWe compared a medication-free remitted MDD (n=101) and a control group (n=70) with no family or personal history of MDD on a previously validated experimental test of moral emotions. The task measures proneness to specific emotions associated with different types of self-blame (guilt, shame, self-contempt/disgust, self-indignation/anger) and blame of others (other-indignation/anger, other-contempt/disgust) whilst controlling for the intensity of unpleasantness. ResultsWe confirmed the hypothesis that patients with MDD exhibit an increased self-contempt bias with a reduction in contempt/disgust towards others. Furthermore, they also showed a decreased proneness for indignation/anger towards others. ConclusionsThis corroborates the prediction that vulnerability to MDD is associated with an imbalance of specific self- and other-blaming emotions rather than a general increase in negative emotions. This has important implications for neurocognitive models and calls for novel focussed interventions to rebalance blame in MDD.

ATTRIBUTION OF EXTERNALITIES: AN ECONOMIC APPROACH TO THE KNOBE EFFECT

A series of studies in experimental philosophy have revealed that people blame others for foreseen negative side effects but do not praise them for foreseen positive ones. In order to challenge this idea, also called the Knobe effect, we develop a laboratory experiment using monetary incentives. In a game-theoretic framework we formalize the two vignettes in a neutral way, which means that we abstain from the use of any specific language terms and can easily control and vary the economic parameters of the situation. We confirm the Knobe effect in one situation and present situations in which the effect vanishes or even reverses. Our results are in line with a theoretical approach where the assessment of intention is not based on the action itself but on the underlying motive – as modelled in Levine (1998).

My modus operandi

My modus operandi

Effects of behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system and emotion regulations on depression of adolescents

Objective To explore the effects of behavioral inhibition system/activation system (BIS/BAS) and emotion regulations on depression of adolescents. Methods 800 adolescents from an university and a middle school were chosen by cluster random sampling, and were surveyed by BIS/BAS scale, Beck depression inventory(BDI), center for epidemiologic studies depression scale (CESD) and cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ). The data were analyzed by pearson correlation, F test and multiple stepwise regression analysis. Results (1)BDI and CESD were correlated positively with BIS (r=0.39, 0.41, P<0.01), self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, blame others and perspective(r=0.19-0.50, P<0.05-0.01), and negatively with planning, reappraisal(r=-0.08-0.24, P<0.05). (2)The scores of severe depression group were highest(15.45±2.57, P<0.01) in BIS, lowest in BAS-drive(9.60±2.99, P<0.01), and nonadaptive emotion regulations were used mostly, and adaptive emotion regulations were done leastly.(3)Catastrophizing, BIS, reappraisal, rumination, refocusing and self-blame explained 35% of total variance, and catastrophizing and BIS explained the largest proportion, respectively 25% and 4%. Conclusion BIS/BAS and emotion regulations may be important factors influencing non-clinical depression of adolescents. Key words: Adolescent depression; Behavioral inhibition system; Behavioral activation system; Emotion regulation

New Perspectives from the Oldest Profession: Abuse and the Legal Consciousness of Sex Workers in China

Although prostitution is illegal, millions of women sell sex in China. In the process, they experience significant abuse and harm at the hands of clients, madams, pimps, the police, and health officials. This article examines the legal consciousness of Chinese sex workers through their interpretations of these abusive experiences. It reveals how they think and talk about them, and how their reactions sometimes translate into concrete actions. My evidence shows that sex workers name abuse as harmful, blame others for it, and occasionally make claims. They also have strong opinions about prostitution policies, and the relationship between these regulations and their experiences of abuse. These findings place scope conditions on previous theories of marginalized people and the law, which suggest that powerless individuals perceive a more peripheral role of the law in their lives. In addition, this evidence enriches our understanding of legal consciousness in China by showing how debates around the concept apply more broadly than previously recognized.

Como negociar a responsabilização em conversas sobre viver com diabetes

A Responsabilização é um fenômeno importante em conversas sobre doenças crônicas, tais como o diabetes. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi entender como a Responsabilização foi manejada em grupos em que se conversava sobre viver com diabetes. Metodologicamente, este estudo foi inspirado pela Psicologia Discursiva. Foram realizadas cinco oficinas com 25 pessoas com Diabetes mellitus Tipo 2 e seus cuidadores. Analiticamente, foram identificadas duas estratégias discursivas: (a) "Responsabilizando aos outros: atribuindo responsabilidade a terceiros" e (b) "Responsabilizando-se", subdividida em: "Responsabilizando-se: o uso de outras formas de cuidado" e "Responsabilizando-se: o acostumar-se a viver com diabetes". As análises mostraram que as estratégias utilizadas permitiram aos participantes se colocarem discursivamente no contexto interacional como pessoas que cuidavam da saúde, bem como administrarem possíveis acusações. Além disso, foi possível compreender como a Responsabilização é um processo discursivo e relacional diretamente relacionado às demandas situacionais do contexto interativo e às expectativas socioculturais.

The Ponzi scheme puzzle: a history and analysis of con artists and victims

The Ponzi scheme puzzle: a history and analysis of con artists and victims

Perception and Adjustment of Adolescents Towards Divorce

Abstract The main aim of this study was to examine the perception and adjustment of adolescents towards divorce. This study used the Perception of Children towards Parental Divorce Scale by Kurdek and Berg, the Homeostasis Gestalt Process of by Woldt .This population consisted of all secondary school students in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Random samples of 20 schools from four districts were selected in this study involving 300 students from single homes as respondents with 15 from each school. The findings showed that adolescents’ perception towards divorce can be both positive and negative. Adolescents faced the normal reactions towards divorce by fearing peer ridicule, by being involved in the blaming self and others for the divorce. The findings of the t-test showed no significant differences on most items on the perception towards divorce according to gender. In terms of adjustment the findings showed the adolescents both adjusted positively and negatively building relationships as well as showing resistance as an aftermath of the divorce. Counselling and parent education strategies need to be developed and implemented to help reduce the effects of divorce among adolescents.