Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, or making negative statements about an individual or group that their actions or inaction are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise.
[1] In contrast to physical or intellectual concepts, reactive attitudes are formed from the point of view of an active participant regarding objects.
The psychological criteria for judging others may be partly ingrained,[citation needed] negative, and rigid, indicating some degree of grandiosity.
The psychological profile of victimization includes a pervasive sense of helplessness, passivity, loss of control, pessimism, negative thinking, strong feelings of guilt, shame, remorse, self-blame, and depression.
Cognitive reprocessing is the process of taking the facts and forming a logical conclusion from them that is less influenced by shame or guilt.
The fundamental attribution error concept explains how people tend to blame negative behavior more on the victims traits than the situation at the time of the event.
[11] In complex international organizations, such as enforcers of national and supranational policies and regulations, the blame is usually attributed to the last echelon, the implementing actors.
When innocent people are blamed fraudulently for nonexistent psychological states and nonexistent behaviors, and there is no qualifying deviance for the blaming behaviors, the intention is to create a negative valuation of innocent humans to induce fear, by using fear mongering.
Blame can objectify people, groups, and nations, typically negatively influencing the intended subjects of propaganda, compromising their objectivity.
Blame flowing downwards, from management to staff, or laterally between professionals or partner organizations, indicates organizational failure.
In a clan, blame is asserted on outsiders or involves allegations of treachery, to suppress dissidence and strengthen the group's ties.
[15] The requirement of accountability and transparency, assumed to be key for good governance, worsen the behaviors of blame avoidance, both at the individual and institutional levels,[17] as is observed in various domains such as politics[18] and healthcare.