TY - JOUR PY - 1985// TI - Intervening causation and the mitigation of responsibility for harm-doing II. The role of limited mental capacities JO - Journal of experimental social psychology A1 - Fincham, Frank D. A1 - Roberts, C. SP - 178 EP - 194 VL - 21 IS - 2 N2 - The present study investigated (i) the conditions under which the proximal cause of an event affects judgments of a distal cause, (ii) the capacities persons need to be held responsible for their actions, and (iii) the relationship between judgments of causation, blame, and restitution. Subjects read about situations in which an initial act, in combination with a later behavior by a second person, produced harm. The age and mental state of the second person were varied. It was found that cause and blame assigned to the initial action was greater when the second person was a child or mentally disturbed, as compared to a sane adult. Causal and moral responsibility were related to the understanding, reasoning capacity, and ability to control behavior of the person judged. Finally, support was obtained for an entailment model of the relations between judgments of causation, blame, and restitution.

LA - SN - 0022-1031 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(85)90014-9 ID - ref1 ER -