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Managing Blame: An Experimental Test of the Effects of Political Accounts

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  • McGraw, Kathleen M.

Abstract

Public officials are not passive bystanders in the electoral process. Rather, they actively try to shape or manage citizens' perceptions of events (particularly those involving negative outcomes) through explanations or accounts. I argue that consideration of citizens' understandings of political accountability and how these are shaped by public officials represent critical missing components of models of electoral behavior. The distinction between excuses and justifications provides a valuable conceptual framework for understanding the impact of political accounts on a variety of judgments and psychological processes. I examine satisfaction with various excuses and justifications and their impact on subsequent evaluations of the official.

Suggested Citation

  • McGraw, Kathleen M., 1991. "Managing Blame: An Experimental Test of the Effects of Political Accounts," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(4), pages 1133-1157, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:85:y:1991:i:04:p:1133-1157_18
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    Cited by:

    1. Bartling, Björn & Engl, Florian & Weber, Roberto A., 2014. "Does willful ignorance deflect punishment? – An experimental study," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 512-524.
    2. Aletheia Donald & Cheryl Doss & Markus Goldstein & Sakshi Gupta, 2024. "Sharing responsibility through joint decision-making and implications for intimate-partner violence: evidence from 12 Sub-Saharan African Countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 35-66, March.
    3. Alessandro Borin & Elisa Macchi & Michele Mancini, 2021. "EU transfers and euroscepticism: can’t buy me love?," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 36(106), pages 237-286.
    4. Denise L. Anthony & Douglas D. Heckathorn & Steven M. Maser, 1994. "Rational Rhetoric in Politics," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(4), pages 489-518, October.
    5. McGraw, A. Peter & Todorov, Alexander & Kunreuther, Howard, 2011. "A policy maker's dilemma: Preventing terrorism or preventing blame," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 25-34, May.
    6. Tereza Capelos & Colin Provost & Maria Parouti & Julie Barnett & Jonathan Chenoweth & Chris Fife‐Schaw & Tanika Kelay, 2016. "Ingredients of institutional reputations and citizen engagement with regulators," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 350-367, December.
    7. Ching Leong & Michael Howlett, 2017. "On credit and blame: disentangling the motivations of public policy decision-making behaviour," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(4), pages 599-618, December.
    8. Andreas Schedler, 1998. "The Normative Force of Electoral Promises," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 191-214, April.
    9. Le Anh Nguyen Long & Megan Foster & Gwen Arnold, 2019. "The impact of stakeholder engagement on local policy decision making," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(4), pages 549-571, December.
    10. Kaisa Herne & Olli Lappalainen & Maija Setälä & Juha Ylisalo, 2022. "Accountability as a Warrant for Trust: An Experiment on Sanctions and Justifications in a Trust Game," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 93(4), pages 615-648, November.

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