Taking blame for antisocial acts and its relationship with personality

• Published in: Personality and Individual Differences
• Main Authors: Gudjonsson, G H, Sigurdsson, J F, Einarsson, E
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/taking-blame-for-antisocial-acts-and-its-relationship-with-personality(bc9ea083-9a24-489f-8998-2da6147acd05).html; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.11.002

The main aim of the present study was to investigate the motivation behind people taking the blame for another person's antisocial acts. One thousand four hundred and thirty-two students in further education in Iceland completed a specially constructed Motivation for Taking Blame Scale (MTBS), along with personality tests measuring antisocial personality traits, self-esteem, and compliance. Two hundred and thirty-two (16%) claimed to have taken the blame for an antisocial act somebody else had done (mainly for property offences and criminal damage). The majority (70%) took the blame for a friend. Principal component analysis of the MTBS revealed five factors: Excitement, Pressure, Disregard, Avoidance, and Cover-up. EPQ Psychoticism was the single best predictor for the Excitement and Disregard motives, whereas GCS Compliance was the only significant predictor for the Pressure and Avoidance motives. The Cover-up motive, although the most commonly endorsed factor, had a poor relationship with the personality measures. There are a number of different motives for taking blame, but this is most commonly done to protect the guilty person and do him or her a favour. Personality, particularly personality disorder traits and compliance, are significant predictor variables for taking blame for others. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved