More on Cognitive Bias - Ten Troublesome Human Instincts or Cognitive Misconceptions cont. 5

5. Blame instinct (it is about shifting responsibility away from ourselves to others, ie finding a scapegoat and expecting them to take responsibility; it
"...is to find a clear, simple reason for why something bad has happened......It comes very naturally for us to decide that when something goes wrong, it must be because of some bad individual with bad intentions. We like to believe that things happen because someone wanted them to, that individuals have power and agency: otherwise, the world feels unpredictable, confusing and frightening.....makes us exaggerate the importance of individuals or a particular group. This instinct to find the guilty party curtails our ability to develop a true, fact-based understanding......it steals our focus as we obsess about someone to blame, then blocks our learning once we have decided...... we stop looking for explanations elsewhere. This undermines our ability to solve the problem, or prevent it from happening again..."
Hans Rosling et al, 2018

You become stuck with over-simplistic blaming; it distracts you from the complex truth, ie go beyond the guilty individual to the system as are usually multiple interacting causes.

You have a similar approach to 'claim', ie you are very quick to claim credit, especially if they confirm your preferences, perspectives, prejudices, biases, etc.

It drives you to contribute more power and influence to individuals than they deserve like political leaders, senior management, etc

A way to handle the blame instinct is to look for causes, not villains (realise that bad things can happen without anyone intending them to; focus your attention on the multiple, interacting causes that created the situation)