When things go wrong: Lay perceptions of blame

In the real world decisions are often made that produce poor outcomes that were not intended by the decision-maker. What influences the blame which lay observers place on a single decision-maker when the decisions go wrong? Three studies presented scenarios featuring decisions that subsequently produced poor consequences. In no scenario was there any suggestion that the poor consequences were intended by the decision-maker. Study 1 found higher attributions of blame and greater willingness to fire the decision-maker when the consequences were relatively easy to predict and severe. Well-trained decision-makers were blamed more, especially if the problem was easy to predict. Resultant death did not attract more blame than other severe consequences. Study 2 showed that well-paid decision-makers attracted more blame, regardless of other factors, but whether the participant was (virtually) harmed was not important. Study 3 found little effect of independently inducing anger on the blame attributed or a firing decision, but angrier respondents were slightly more willing to fire the decision-maker. Overall, the results indicate that the extent to which decision-makers are blamed for unintentional mistakes is fairly predictable from a simple additive model.