Benefit Finding and Perceived Obligations of Victims

Abstract

In three studies, I examine the concept of benefit finding in victimization from the perspective of nonvictims, and consider what consequences benefit finding might have for evaluation of victims. In Experiment 1, participants read about a victim of abuse and thought about the lesson of victimization for the perpetrator or the victim. Participants perceived the victim as more obligated to help and to not do harm when focused on the victim as compared to the perpetrator, to the extent that they believed victims should find benefits. In Experiment 2, I examined what happens when a victim does not live up to this expectation of improvement following trauma. Participants read about a victim of abuse and thought about the lessons of the abuse for the victim or perpetrator. As in Experiment 1, when focused on the victim, participants believed more strongly that the victim should find benefits and that they have future obligations. Participants then read that the victim either subsequently had no criminal record or that he sexually abused someone himself. When focused on the lessons of victimization for the victim, participants desired more social distance from the victim who did harm than when focused on the lessons for the perpetrator. The extent that participants believed the victim should have found benefits mediated the condition effect on these responses. In Experiment 3, I compared victims who do harm versus nonvictims who do harm. Participants read about a target with either a victimization history or no victimization history who abused a child as an adult or did not abuse a child as an adult. Participants rated the victim with a criminal record more negatively than the nonvictim with a criminal record, but did not rate a victim differently from a nonvictim if they had no criminal record. These studies show that victims incur obligations due to the idea that they should find benefits. When victims do not fulfill their obligations towards others, they face negative evaluation. The research shows that the way nonvictims make meaning of victimization has implications for the victim.