Understanding when and why victims are blamed: The role of personal and system threat

Nicole Marie Capezza, Purdue University

Abstract

Past research on victim blaming has focused on (a) individual difference variables that may make a person more likely to endorse victim blame and (b) characteristics of the victim or situation that may elicit variations in victim blame. Little research has focused on examining the perceiver's motivation to blame a victim, which would elucidate the thought process that makes people blame others. The primary aim of the current project was to extend the victim blaming literature to assess different threats that may motivate a person to endorse victim blame. Bridging various theoretical perspectives (just world, terror management, and system justification), I examined the role of threats to a person's well-being (i.e., personal threat) and threats to a person's way of life (i.e., system threat) on perceptions of victim blame. It was hypothesized that making a threat salient would result in increases in victim blame, particularly when the type of victim reaffirmed the salient threat. Study 1 provided initial support for the link between threats to a person's way of life and blaming a wife for her husband's abuse. Study 2 tested specific conditions related to system threat and victim blame. This study was a between subjects experiment in which participants were primed with one type of threat (system threat, personal threat, control) and then asked to rate a victim that either reaffirmed the threat (system noncompliant victim) or was not related to the threat (system compliant victim). When a threat to the current system was made salient, a perceiver was more likely to blame the system noncompliant victim. Study 3 found similar results by assessing conditions related to personal threat. When a personal threat was made salient, a victim that reaffirmed the threat (a personally similar victim) was blamed more than a victim that was not related to the threat (a personally dissimilar victim). All three studies found that type of threat to a perceiver is an important variable that should be considered when assessing victim blame. Implications for research on victim blaming are discussed.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Arriaga, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Social psychology

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