Original
Outcome mutability, culpable control, and blame attribution in crisis
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of two critical but underdeveloped factors, namely outcome mutability and culpable control, on citizens’ blame towards governments during crises. Based on a pre-registered survey experiment with 1364 Chinese citizens, our analysis shows that citizens assign more blame when they perceive the government as culpable for negative outcomes arising from crises. Additionally, outcome mutability increases citizens’ blame on the government, especially when they believe negative consequences could have been prevented. These findings demonstrate that counterfactual reasoning and causal inference influence citizens’ blame of the government, deepening our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying it in crises.
中文
结果可变性、可归责控制与危机中的责备归因
摘要
本研究考察了两个关键但尚未得到充分发展的因素——结果可变性与可归责控制——对危机期间公民针对政府的责备的影响。基于一项针对1364名中国公民的预注册调查实验，我们的分析表明，当公民认为政府对危机造成的负面结果负有责任时，他们会给予政府更多责备。此外，结果可变性会增加公民对政府的责备，尤其当他们认为负面后果本可避免时。这些发现表明，反事实推理与因果推断会影响公民对政府的责备，从而深化我们对危机中责备背后心理机制的理解。
关键词
结果可变性、可归责控制、责备归因、危机、政府责任、调查实验、反事实推理、因果推断