An Infectious Blame Game

Blaming mistakes on others is socially contagious, according to a new study.

Blaming mistakes on others is socially contagious, according to a new study. Just watching someone palm their failures off on another can make you do the same to protect your self-image.

Scientists at Stanford University had more than 100 participants read a fabricated news report about a failure by a large philanthropic foundation, with subjects either reading about the organisation’s director taking responsibility or blaming others for the failure. Participants also answered questions to tease out the possible causes of blame-spread. Those who read the blame scenario were more likely than the other group to say the foundation director was protecting his self-image and also more likely to think protecting their own self-image was important. The results suggest that when we see someone else ditching responsibility for mistakes, we are more likely to do the same in our lives. So, to boost performance, companies should perhaps want to keep blaming others to a minimum.

About The Author

arindam