The relationship between general and specific attribution of blame for a "serious" act and the role of personality

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between two inventories that measure attribution of blame for a ?serious? act and the instruments' reliability and validity. These were the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory (BAI) and the Attribution of Blame Scale (ABS). Whereas the BAI is completed in relation to a specific ?criminal? act, the ABS aims to measure attribution of blame as a general characteristic of the individual. The two instruments were completed by 82 Icelandic undergraduate students, who also completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire (IVE). External attribution on the ABS correlated significantly with both external and mental attributions on the BAI, but the correlations were low. BAI attribution scores were significantly higher for ?interpersonal? than ?impersonal? acts. EPQ psychoticism was positively correlated with external attribution on the BAI and negatively with a feeling of remorse. Internal attribution on the ABS was negatively associated with psychoticism, impulsivity, and venturesomeness. The ABS, in contrast to the BAI, may predominantly reflect how the person attributes blame of other people's behaviour rather than his/her own. This may explain the poor correlations between the two inventories.