Culpable control and the psychology of blame - PubMed

Review

Culpable control and the psychology of blame

M D Alicke. Psychol Bull. 2000 Jul.

Abstract

A culpable control model is advanced to describe the conditions that encourage as well as mitigate blame and to assess the process by which blame and mitigation occur. The fundamental assumptions of the model are that evidence concerning harmful events is scrutinized for its contribution to personal control and spontaneously evaluated for its favorableness or unfavorableness. Spontaneous evaluations encourage a blame-validation mode of processing in which evidence concerning the event is reviewed in a manner that favors ascribing blame to the person or persons who evoke the most negative affect or whose behavior confirms unfavorable expectations. The author delineates the elements of perceived control and then discusses spontaneous evaluation influences on control and blame assessments. The blame-validation process is described next. Finally, the culpable control model is compared with extant theories of blame and responsibility and its basic tenets summarized.

Similar articles

• Culpable control and counterfactual reasoning in the psychology of blame.

  Alicke MD, Buckingham J, Zell E, Davis T. Alicke MD, et al. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2008 Oct;34(10):1371-81. doi: 10.1177/0146167208321594. Epub 2008 Jul 21. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2008. PMID: 18644856

• Defensive externality and blame projection following failure.

  Hochreich DJ. Hochreich DJ. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1975 Sep;32(3):540-6. doi: 10.1037/h0077102. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1975. PMID: 1177087

• Judgments of cause and blame: the effects of intentionality and foreseeability.

  Lagnado DA, Channon S. Lagnado DA, et al. Cognition. 2008 Sep;108(3):754-70. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.06.009. Epub 2008 Aug 15. Cognition. 2008. PMID: 18706537

• Finding "meaning" in psychology: a lay theories approach to self-regulation, social perception, and social development.

  Molden DC, Dweck CS. Molden DC, et al. Am Psychol. 2006 Apr;61(3):192-203. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.61.3.192. Am Psychol. 2006. PMID: 16594836 Review.

• Personality reflected in a coherent idiosyncratic interplay of intra- and interpersonal self-regulatory processes.

  Morf CC. Morf CC. J Pers. 2006 Dec;74(6):1527-56. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00419.x. J Pers. 2006. PMID: 17083657 Review.

Cited by

• Inferences about moral character moderate the impact of consequences on blame and praise.

  Siegel JZ, Crockett MJ, Dolan RJ. Siegel JZ, et al. Cognition. 2017 Oct;167:201-211. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.05.004. Epub 2017 May 17. Cognition. 2017. PMID: 28527671 Free PMC article.

• Morally excused but socially excluded: Denying agency through the defense of mental impairment.

  de Vel-Palumbo M, Schein C, Ferguson R, Chang MX, Bastian B. de Vel-Palumbo M, et al. PLoS One. 2021 Jun 10;16(6):e0252586. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252586. eCollection 2021. PLoS One. 2021. PMID: 34111148 Free PMC article. Updated.

• Intentionality, Morality, and the Incest Taboo in Madagascar.

  Sousa P, Swiney L. Sousa P, et al. Front Psychol. 2016 Apr 7;7:494. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00494. eCollection 2016. Front Psychol. 2016. PMID: 27092099 Free PMC article.

• Mutual entailment between causation and responsibility.

  Sytsma J, Willemsen P, Reuter K. Sytsma J, et al. Philos Stud. 2023;180(12):3593-3614. doi: 10.1007/s11098-023-02041-2. Epub 2023 Nov 20. Philos Stud. 2023. PMID: 38046448 Free PMC article.

• Justice sensitivity is undergirded by separate heritable motivations to be morally principled and opportunistic.

  Eftedal NH, Kleppestø TH, Czajkowski NO, Sheehy-Skeffington J, Røysamb E, Vassend O, Ystrom E, Thomsen L. Eftedal NH, et al. Sci Rep. 2022 Mar 30;12(1):5402. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09253-2. Sci Rep. 2022. PMID: 35354855 Free PMC article.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

• Full Text Sources

  • American Psychological Association
  • Ovid Technologies, Inc.

• Research Materials

  • NCI CPTC Antibody Characterization Program