A Posteriori Adjustment of a Priori Decision Criteria

Rational decision theories and philosophical theories of moral responsibility stipulate that ascriptions of blame for harmdoing should be based on a priori sources of culpability (e.g., intention, motive, foresight, negligence) rather than on a posteriori outcomes that occur subsequent to an actor's behavioral involvement. The five studies reported in this paper demonstrated, however, that a posteriori outcome information strongly affects both ascriptions of blame and decision quality. Furthermore, these studies supported a revisionist model of a posteriori influence whereby outcome information leads observers to revise their estimations of the actor's a priori culpability. Studies 4 and 5 elaborated this model by demonstrating that a posteriori revision of a priori decision criteria serves to justify people's blame attributions.