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

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between two i nventories that measure attribution of blame for a "serious" act and the in struments' reliability and validity. These were the Gudjonsson Blame Attrib ution Inventory (BAI) and the Attribution of Blame Scab (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 Eys enck Impulsiveness Questionnaire (IVE). External attribution on the ABS cor related 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 pos itively correlated with external attribution on the BAI and negatively with a feeling of remorse. Internal attribution on the ABS was negatively assoc iated with psychoticism, impulsivity, and venturesomeness. The ABS, in cont rast 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 p oor correlations between the two inventories.