<p>I thing what you are looking for is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoating" rel="nofollow noreferrer">scapegoating</a> :</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited
  negative treatment or blame as a scapegoat. Scapegoating may be
  conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "he did it, not
  me!"), individuals against groups (e.g., "I couldn't see anything
  because of all the tall people"), groups against individuals (e.g.,
  "Jane was the reason our team didn't win"), and groups against groups.</p>
  
  <p>A scapegoat may be an adult, child, sibling, employee, peer, ethnic,
  political or religious group, or country. </p>
  
  <p>...</p>
  
  <p>Unwanted thoughts and feelings can be unconsciously projected onto
  another who becomes a scapegoat for one's own problems. This concept
  can be extended to projection by groups. In this case the chosen
  individual, or group, becomes the scapegoat for the group's problems.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Hostile Attribution Bias is another possibility, defined as the tendency to interpret the behaviour of another as having hostile intent even when the behaviour is ambiguous, neutral or benign.</p>

<p>References :</p>

<ul>
<li>Roy F. Baumeister &amp; Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, Encyclopedia of Social Psychology</li>
<li>Berkowitz and Green, 1962, the stimulus qualities of the scapegoat, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 7, 202-207</li>
<li>Gemmill, G., 1998, The dynamics of scapegoating in small groups, Small Group Behavior, 20, 406-418</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-27T07:35:04.140Z
2017-12-11T22:37:05.283Z
2017-12-11T22:37:05.283Z
DesignerAnalyst
<p>Suppose person X is looking for something he has lost. Instead of thinking he left it somewhere, he is convinced that person Y has taken it. X is so convinced of this that he will not even look for the object. Instead, he badgers person Y for the location of said object.</p>

<p>In another example, person X is sitting in the rear of a vehicle. He feels cold. The temperature for the rear of the vehicle is controlled by a panel of buttons immediately in front of X. Instead of changing the temperature, he gets angry at person Z. His first instinct is to assume that person Z changed the temperature so he would be cold.</p>

<p>This behavior almost reminds me of Capgras syndrome. Person X attributes every negative circumstance to the malevolent intent of another individual, usually someone close to him he fears or sees as oppressive. He thinks of most people around him this way, and he sees himself as their victim. X responds this way to everything: lost items, a hamburger served differently than he ordered it, tripping and getting hurt, changes in cellular reception while driving along a freeway, etc. While some of these may be someone's fault, he attributes fault to the wrong person.</p>

<p>Is there a name for this type of behavior?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-27T10:57:29.587Z
@AliceD The Freudian background you added was nowhere in the original post. This edit assumes the OP is aware about, and interested in the question being framed as such. In my opinion, this edit changes the question too drastically. The reason we expect references to prior research is not just for the sake of adding it, it is because this indicates the current understanding of the OP (thus the level of depth an answer should go into) as well as the framing of it (theories on which it is based).
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-27T11:48:30.003Z
@StevenJeuris I understand. I just prefer to improve the question over closing them. Closing questions is easy. Making them great is the challenge. -1
AliceD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-27T13:16:23.207Z
How does this remind you of Capgras syndrome? I don't see an obvious relation. In addition, it seems your observations are based on anecdotal observations. If so, it makes sense to state this explicitly. In addition, you could look for articles/public figures that resemble the characteristics you describe to motivate this is not isolated to your singular observations.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-27T13:58:36.787Z
@StevenJeuris Thank you! I’ll take a look around. My knowledge is somewhat limited, but the paranoia and assumption that everyone in your life has malicious intent are what remind me of Capgras.
Zenon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-20T21:47:15.507Z
You describe a causal attribution error, it is present in numerous mental disorders (less frequently occurs in any person) only with such data is impossible to know.
hexadecimal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-20T21:52:04.253Z
@hexadecimal Thanks! I’d provide more information, but I don’t want to get too close to asking for the behavior of a specific person, as that would be off-topic. I think the attribution error is what I’m looking for. I’ll look into it more and see.
Zenon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-20T22:07:34.617Z
Usually this is so common that a report should indicate what people and areas are focused (certain behaviors of others, occasional events, random facts, common facts with negative interpretation for oneself, everything in general, etc).
hexadecimal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-20T23:06:57.803Z
@hexadecimal Edited, see the third paragraph. Does a causal attribution error refer specifically to the behavior of a person? If so, it doesn't fit the situation. X assigns blame for environmental circumstances out of anyone's control to specific people as well as those which may have been controllable.
Zenon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-21T12:51:50.077Z
There may still be many disorders, (or depending on the circumstances not to be a disorder), is a symptom and from a single symptom can not be concluded. This phenomenon does not have to be about a person, for example someone can leave the house and seeing a public work think that is to annoy him, or think that a storm is to annoy him (real cases).
hexadecimal
<social-psychology><abnormal-psychology><behavior><aggression><cognitive-dissonance>
Is there a named psychological condition for people who find every bad thing to be someone's "fault?"
Zenon
# Is there a named psychological condition for people who find every bad thing to be someone's "fault?"

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-20)

Suppose person X is looking for something he has lost. Instead of thinking he left it somewhere, he is convinced that person Y has taken it. X is so convinced of this that he will not even look for the object. Instead, he badgers person Y for the location of said object.

In another example, person X is sitting in the rear of a vehicle. He feels cold. The temperature for the rear of the vehicle is controlled by a panel of buttons immediately in front of X. Instead of changing the temperature, he gets angry at person Z. His first instinct is to assume that person Z changed the temperature so he would be cold.

This behavior almost reminds me of Capgras syndrome. Person X attributes every negative circumstance to the malevolent intent of another individual, usually someone close to him he fears or sees as oppressive. He thinks of most people around him this way, and he sees himself as their victim. X responds this way to everything: lost items, a hamburger served differently than he ordered it, tripping and getting hurt, changes in cellular reception while driving along a freeway, etc. While some of these may be someone's fault, he attributes fault to the wrong person.

Is there a name for this type of behavior?

**Tags:** social-psychology, abnormal-psychology, behavior, aggression, cognitive-dissonance

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: You describe a causal attribution error, it is present in numerous mental disorders (less frequently occurs in any person) only with such data is impossible to know.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 Thanks! I’d provide more information, but I don’t want to get too close to asking for the behavior of a specific person, as that would be off-topic. I think the attribution error is what I’m looking for. I’ll look into it more and see.  
> **username_3**: Usually this is so common that a report should indicate what people and areas are focused (certain behaviors of others, occasional events, random facts, common facts with negative interpretation for oneself, everything in general, etc).  
> **username_0**: @username_3 Edited, see the third paragraph. Does a causal attribution error refer specifically to the behavior of a person? If so, it doesn't fit the situation. X assigns blame for environmental circumstances out of anyone's control to specific people as well as those which may have been controllable.  
> **username_3**: There may still be many disorders, (or depending on the circumstances not to be a disorder), is a symptom and from a single symptom can not be concluded. This phenomenon does not have to be about a person, for example someone can leave the house and seeing a public work think that is to annoy him, or think that a storm is to annoy him (real cases).  
> **username_1**: @username_2 The Freudian background you added was nowhere in the original post. This edit assumes the OP is aware about, and interested in the question being framed as such. In my opinion, this edit changes the question too drastically. The reason we expect references to prior research is not just for the sake of adding it, it is because this indicates the current understanding of the OP (thus the level of depth an answer should go into) as well as the framing of it (theories on which it is based).  
> **username_2**: @StevenJeuris I understand. I just prefer to improve the question over closing them. Closing questions is easy. Making them great is the challenge. -1  
> **username_1**: How does this remind you of Capgras syndrome? I don't see an obvious relation. In addition, it seems your observations are based on anecdotal observations. If so, it makes sense to state this explicitly. In addition, you could look for articles/public figures that resemble the characteristics you describe to motivate this is not isolated to your singular observations.  
> **username_0**: @StevenJeuris Thank you! I’ll take a look around. My knowledge is somewhat limited, but the paranoia and assumption that everyone in your life has malicious intent are what remind me of Capgras.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-10-27. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

I thing what you are looking for is [scapegoating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoating) :

> Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited
> negative treatment or blame as a scapegoat. Scapegoating may be
> conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "he did it, not
> me!"), individuals against groups (e.g., "I couldn't see anything
> because of all the tall people"), groups against individuals (e.g.,
> "Jane was the reason our team didn't win"), and groups against groups.
>
> A scapegoat may be an adult, child, sibling, employee, peer, ethnic,
> political or religious group, or country.
>
> ...
>
> Unwanted thoughts and feelings can be unconsciously projected onto
> another who becomes a scapegoat for one's own problems. This concept
> can be extended to projection by groups. In this case the chosen
> individual, or group, becomes the scapegoat for the group's problems.

Hostile Attribution Bias is another possibility, defined as the tendency to interpret the behaviour of another as having hostile intent even when the behaviour is ambiguous, neutral or benign.

References :

* Roy F. Baumeister & Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, Encyclopedia of Social Psychology
* Berkowitz and Green, 1962, the stimulus qualities of the scapegoat, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 7, 202-207
* Gemmill, G., 1998, The dynamics of scapegoating in small groups, Small Group Behavior, 20, 406-418


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