Blaming the victim and blaming the culprit

Think ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 21-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Double
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Related Phenomenon ◽  
Just World ◽  
Cognitive Error ◽  
World Hypothesis

Psychologists and common sense recognize blaming the victim as a cognitive error (fallacy) that many of us use to support the just-world hypothesis — the view that life is basically fair. In this article Richard Double compares a related phenomenon, blaming the culprit. When we commit the fallacy of blaming the culprit we mistakenly conclude that judging a culprit to deserve blame for an action exonerates everyone else from blame for that action. Double provides several examples of the fallacy.

scholarly journals The just world hypothesis and the attribution of agency to a victim

1976 ◽  
Vol 26 (26-27) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Arthur E. John Gonzalez ◽  
Marian L. Cordoza ◽  
Matthew G. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Just World ◽  
World Hypothesis

CONTROL AND BELIEF IN THE JUST WORLD: WHAT'S GOOD ALSO CAN BE BAD

1982 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Feinberg ◽  
Amy Powell ◽  
Franklin G. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Learned Helplessness ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Sense Of Control ◽  
Just World ◽  
Victim Derogation ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship

The just world hypothesis provides an explanation for the finding that observers derogate victims. By admitting the appropriateness of a victim's fate., observers may develop a sense of control over the possibility of similar fates. Two experiments investigated the relationship between, the magnitude of motivation for control over the environment and tendency to derogate victims. In Experiment One, situational controllability and uncontrollability were manipulated within a learned helplessness procedure and derogation of a victimized stranger assessed. In Experiment Two, subjects completed the Need for Control and Belief in the Just World scales, measures of the motivation for environmental control and the tendency to derogate victims. The results indicate that motivation and need for control underlie victim derogation.

Conclusion

Divested ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 176-190
Author(s):  
Ken-Hou Lin ◽  
Megan Tobias Neely
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sense Of Control ◽  
Just World ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Fundamental Cause ◽  
World Hypothesis

This concluding chapter uses the example of a 1965 study by social psychologist Melvin Lerner and another later study he conducted with Carolyn Simmons to introduce the thesis of this book. These experiments lead to the Just World Hypothesis. In this, Lerner argued that, to gain a basic sense of control, people needed to believe that the world (or at least the environment relevant to themselves) is fundamentally just. The central thesis of this book is not quite as clear-cut as that, rather it has been that the rise of finance is a fundamental cause of the growing economic inequality in the United States. This concluding chapter goes on to expand on that thesis. Finally, it looks beyond the United States and to the future.

Victim's Provocativeness and Victim's Attractiveness as Determinants of Blame in Rape

1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 255-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Best ◽  
Herbert S. Demmin
Keyword(s):  
Just World ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Determining Factor

Recent studies of rape have emphasized the attractiveness of the victim as a determinant in people's judgments of the victim's blameworthiness. The present study provided 120 undergraduates with four hypothetical rape stories in which the victim's pre-rape behavior and attractiveness were independently varied. The results indicate that the victim's attractiveness is not a determining factor of the victim's blameworthiness when subjects are given descriptions of victim's pre-rape behavior. The results were discussed in the context of a “just world” hypothesis.

scholarly journals Does long-term focus increase victim-blaming? A study on the just-world hypothesis using the modified Stroop task

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Zsuzsa Komáromy ◽  
◽  
Réka János ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Victim Blaming ◽  
Just World ◽  
Modified Stroop ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The World ◽  
Justice Motive ◽  
World Hypothesis

According to the just-world hypothesis (Lerner, 1980), people have an inherent need to believe that the world is a just place, where people generally get wha t they deserve. One of the benefits of holding this conviction is that it can promote investing in long-term goals. Acts of secondary victimization, such as blaming or derogating the victim can also be explained by just-world beliefs. This study looked at the effect of perceiving an innocent victim (a supposed threat to the belief in a just world) and long-term focus on the activation of the justice motive. We measured participants’ reaction times for justice-related and other stimuli with the help of the modified Stroop task (N=66). A significant difference between justice-related and neutral words has been found after being confronted with the threat to the belief in a just world, indicating that it indeed activated participants’ justice motive. Long-term focus did not have any significant effect. Higher levels of belief in a random world have been associated with greater victim-blaming tendencies.

Role of employee felt obligation and endorsement of the just world hypothesis: A social exchange theory investigation in an organizational justice context

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia G. Roch ◽  
Choe E. Shannon ◽  
Jeremiah J. Martin ◽  
David Swiderski ◽  
John P. Agosta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Just World ◽  
World Hypothesis
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