Irrational Attributions of Responsibility: Who, What, When, and Why

Abstract

“Irrational” attributions of responsibility (attributing more responsibility to a victim when his misfortune is greater and attributing more responsibility to a weaker rather than a stronger victim) were more common when decisions were hurried and among people who characteristically assign causes of actions to persons. People whose moral judgments are more sophisticated in Kohlberg's schema made fewer irrational attributions generally.

Blaming the victim: Belief in control or belief in justice?

“…Such studies cannot clarify whether the amount of responsibility attributed to the victims is subtracted from that attributed to other agents, or whether there is a generalized tendency to attribute responsibility to all agents (Alexander, 1980). Studies on rape and sexual harassment (Langley et al, 1991;Vallacher and Selz, 1991;Valentine-French and Radtke, 1989;Bridges and McGrail, 1989), on child abuse (Broussard and Wagner, 1988), on accidents (Sadow, 1983;Gleason and Harris, 1976), on suicide (Anthony, 1976), or on bank holdup (Ugwuegbu and Hendrick, 1974) indicate that it is very useful to simultaneously assess at least the responsibility of victims and perpetrators. In the case of cancer, too, it is not only the victim to whom responsibility might be attributed.…”