Culpable control and the psychology of blame

A culpable control model is advanced to describe the conditions that encour age as well as mitigate blame and to assess the process by which blame and mitigation occur. The fundamental assumptions of the model are that evidenc e concerning harmful events is scrutinized for its contribution to personal control and spontaneously evaluated for its favorableness or unfavorablene ss. Spontaneous evaluations encourage a blame-validation mode of processing in which evidence concerning the event is reviewed in a manner that favors ascribing blame to the person or persons who evoke the most negative affec t or whose behavior confirms unfavorable expectations. The author delineate s the elements of perceived control and then discusses spontaneous evaluati on influences on control and blame assessments. The blame-validation proces s is described next. Finally, the culpable control model is compared with e xtant theories of blame and responsibility and its basic tenets summarized.