Seething But Quiet: Power Differentially Affects Public Vs. Private Expressions Of Blame

Blame is an important social act that evolved to become an integral part of social regulation. Blame is associated with significant social costs for the person facing blame (e.g., social isolation, punishment) as well as for the person expressing blame (e.g., criticism if blame is improperly given). Because of these social costs, blame must be justified or warranted by the perpetrators mental states or the severity of the outcome. The current study suggests that power is a role constraint that will uniquely affect public blame while leaving private blame unaffected. Data show that when confronting moral violations people may privately blame as they please; however, deciding when and how to express public blame is constrained by social status and power.