ABSTRACT
Abstract: The goals, forms and effects of responsibility denial (RD) are outlined for several variants of felt and ascribed responsibility: (l) responsibility for others, for communities and their common good and (2) responsibility for own actions and omissions and their consequences. Possible goals of RD are outlined: avoidance of obligations, liability and punishment, impression management in the public preserving one’s belief in a just world and regulation of the emotions of guilt and resentment. Typical justifications of responsibility denial for others or for public interest are listed. Justifications for norm violations and actions with negative outcomes for others are categorised and so are suitable arguments for refusing or reducing responsibility for one’s actions and their consequences. Empirical findings from several fields of research are sketched: (l) accounts for norm violations and injuring actions and their effects on victims, (2) strategies that deny responsibility for prosocial commitments, and (3) management of responsibility attribution and denial by victims of critical life events. Finally, some gains and losses by denial of responsibility are discussed.
