A-POSTERIORI ADJUSTMENT OF A-PRIORI DECISION CRITERIA

Rational decision theories and philosophical theories of moral respons ibility stipulate that ascriptions of blame for harmdoing should be ba sed on a priori sources of culpability (e.g., intention, motive, fores ight, negligence) rather than on a posteriori outcomes that occur subs equent to an actor's behavioral involvement. The five studies reported in this paper demonstrated, however, that a posteriori outcome inform ation strongly affects both ascriptions of blane and decision quality. Furthermore, these studies supported a revisionist model of a posteri ori influence whereby outcome information leads observers to revise th eir estimations of the actor's a priori culpability. Studies 4 and 5 e laborated this model by demonstrating that a posteriori revision of a priori decision criteria serves to justify people's blame attributions .