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We Blame Innocent Victims More Than I Do: Self-Construal Level Moderates Responses to Just-World ThreatsVU University Amsterdam, van.prooijen{at}psy.vu.nl. jw
Utrecht University This study investigated the impact of self-construal levels on people’s tendency to blame innocent victims for the victims’ fates. The authors hypothesized that when the belief in a just world is threatened, social self-construal is associated with more victim blaming than individual self-construal is. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were primed with either the individual self (with the word I) or the social self (with the word we). Results indeed showed that when threats to just-world beliefs were high, social self-activation produced more victim blaming than individual self-activation did. This effect was not found when just-world threats were low. Extending on these findings, Experiment 3 revealed that, following a just-world threat, an independent self-construal measure was negatively related to victim blaming, and an interdependent self-construal measure was positively related to victim blaming. It is concluded that self-construal levels are important to understanding the justice motive.
Key Words: victim blaming • self-construal level • just-world theory • justice motive
This version was published on November
1, 2009 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 11,
1528-1539 (2009) |
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