Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences & Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Evol Psychol. 2024 Oct-Dec;22(4):14747049241297902. doi: 10.1177/14747049241297902.
In four preregistered studies, we tested implications from a cooperation model that explains victim-blaming as a strategic move, as a way for people to avoid the costs of helping victims (who seem to be unpromising cooperation partners) without paying the reputational cost of being seen as ungenerous, reluctant cooperators. An implication of this perspective is that, if an individual is identified as a poor cooperation prospect to start with, people would be likely to blame that individual for his/her own misfortune, notably by suggesting that the victim was negligent. The four studies presented here support this interpretation, as participants attributed more negligence to an accident victim if that victim had been initially described as less prosocial, either because they denied benefits to others or because they created costs for others. These results are consistent with a familiar result, that people blame victims more if they feel (or want to be seen as) more socially distant from that victim. The present studies may offer a simple, cooperation-based account of this and other aspects of victim-blaming.
在四项预先注册的研究中，我们检验了一个合作模型的含义，该模型将责备受害者解释为一种策略性的举动，是人们避免帮助受害者（他们似乎是不可靠的合作伙伴）的成本的一种方式，而无需承担被视为吝啬、不情愿的合作者的声誉成本。这种观点的一个含义是，如果一个人一开始就被认为是一个糟糕的合作对象，那么人们很可能会因为自己的不幸而责备那个人，特别是暗示受害者疏忽大意。这里提出的四项研究支持这种解释，因为如果受害者最初被描述为不太乐于助人，无论是因为他们拒绝给别人带来好处，还是因为他们给别人带来了成本，参与者就会认为事故受害者更疏忽大意。这些结果与一个熟悉的结果一致，即如果人们感到（或希望被视为）与受害者的社会距离更远，他们就会更责备受害者。本研究可能为这种现象以及其他方面的受害者责备提供了一个简单的基于合作的解释。
