We Blame Innocent Victims More Than I Do: Self-Construal Level Moderates Responses to Just-World Threats Export

@article{citeulike:6065312, abstract = {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. 10.1177/0146167209344728}, author = {van Prooijen, Jan-Willem and van den Bos, Kees}, citeulike-article-id = {6065312}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167209344728}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://psp.sagepub.com/content/35/11/1528.abstract}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://psp.sagepub.com/content/35/11/1528.full.pdf}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19713566}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19713566}, day = {1}, doi = {10.1177/0146167209344728}, journal = {Pers Soc Psychol Bull}, keywords = {empathy, materialism, personal\_exposure, political\_attitudes, political\_psychology, post-materialism, psychological\_distress, social\_psychology, survey\_data, sympathy}, month = {November}, number = {11}, pages = {1528--1539}, posted-at = {2009-11-03 23:36:36}, priority = {2}, title = {We Blame Innocent Victims More Than I Do: Self-Construal Level Moderates Responses to Just-World Threats}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167209344728}, volume = {35}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:6065312 L3 - citeulike-article-id:6065312 N2 - 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. 10.1177/0146167209344728 IS - 11 JF - Pers Soc Psychol Bull EP - 1539 TI - We Blame Innocent Victims More Than I Do: Self-Construal Level Moderates Responses to Just-World Threats VL - 35 SP - 1528 KW - empathy KW - materialism KW - personal_exposure KW - political_attitudes KW - political_psychology KW - post-materialism KW - psychological_distress KW - social_psychology KW - survey_data KW - sympathy AU - van Prooijen, Jan-Willem AU - van den Bos, Kees PY - 2009/11/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167209344728 ER -