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
.