Defensive Attribution and Its Relationship with False Consensus for Criminal Inmates in Prisons

Abstract

The present study set out to do the following: (1) determine whether or not moral crime perpetrators engage in defensive attribution; (2) determine whether or not such perpetrators engage in false consensus; (3) determine whether or not such perpetrators engage in defensive attribution and false consensus; and (4) determine the relative contribution of false consensus to defensive attribution among such perpetrators. The research goals could not have been accomplished without instruments to gauge defensive attribution and false consensus. The researcher had to construct a tool to measure defensive attribution after scouring the existing literature and failing to come up with suitable instruments; the original instrument, which was based on Shaver's theory of defensive attribution (1970), contained 33 elements. The validity and reliability psychometric qualities were extracted, and the scale was then consisted of 28 items with four choices. In addition, the researcher developed a tool to assess false consensus using the model proposed by Ross & et al. (1977) as a basis. This tool comprises After its psychometric features were extracted, it was reduced from 24 items to 18 items with two response possibilities. The current study's population included offenders convicted of moral crimes while incarcerated in Babylon Governorate in the year 2023. The researcher used a random sampling technique to choose a sample of four hundred inmates from the governorate. Findings indicated that research participants exhibited high levels of defensive attribution and false consensus. Additionally, the study found a positive association between defensive attribution and consensus, which was statistically significant. Perpetrators of moral crimes often engage in defensive attribution, which is exacerbated by the prevalence of false consensus among these criminals.