Böwing, Nele (2023) The Effect of Different Counterfactual Thoughts on Blaming-The-Victim Consequences. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Victim-blaming defines holding victims accountable for incidents and the arising negative consequences they experience. A potential explanation of said phenomenon explored by previous research is counterfactual thinking. Comparing what actually happened to what might have happened had the victim or perpetrator behaved differently may vary the level of victim-blaming. We present counterfactuals focusing on either victim or perpetrator of the given scenario. We also vary whether counterfactual thoughts contain a more- or less-than comparative statement. More-than comparisons are usually processed easier than less-than comparisons. Therefore, we hypothesize that this asymmetry influences judgment such that more-than counterfactuals are judged more impactful than their less-than counterpart. Moreover, we hypothesize that counterfactuals focusing on the perpetrator will be similarly judged as more impactful. The study displays a 2x2 between-subjects design with participants assigned to either victim or perpetrator and more-than or less-than counterfactual conditions. Impact was measured based on ease of generating the counterfactual, the victim's responsibility, the blame ascribed to the victim, and the plausibility of the counterfactual. Results show no significant difference in judged impact between the more-than vs. less-than counterfactual condition. However, a significant difference in judged impact on all four dependent variables was found for the victim vs. perpetrator condition, such that the perpetrator condition was judged more impactful. The study grants new insight into victim-blaming and racial assault in the workplace. Future research may focus on a greater manipulation of the scenario to further investigate the more-than vs. less-than asymmetry.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Epstude, K. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2023 09:42 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2023 09:42 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2539 |
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