Observer reactions to emotional victims of serious crimes: Stereotypes and expectancy violations
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Psychology, Crime and Law
Abstract
Negative observer reactions towards victims may be related to
people’s expectations of the characteristics and demeanor of an
ideal victim. We examined how expressed emotion, victim sex, and
type of victimization influence observers’ perceptions of victim
credibility, victim character, and harm. Our hypothesis was that
angry victims, male victims, and victims of sexual violence are
perceived less positively than sad victims, female victims, and
victims of physical violence. Additionally, we anticipated that
expectancy violations following expressed agentic/high status, or
passive/low-status emotions of the victim would lead to negative
reactions. Participants (N = 335) read a written victim impact
statement, by a male or female victim of a sexual or physical assault,
in which anger or sadness was expressed. The results show that
observers generally respond more negatively to male victims than to
female victims, and to victims expressing anger rather than sadness.
However, a two-way interaction between expressed emotion and
type of crime revealed that expressed emotion only significantly
influences character derogation and victim credibility in cases of
physical violence. Finally, emotion expectancy violations based on
ex-ante expectations lead to derogation and diminished credibility.
The discussion focuses on how emotion expectancy violations seem
intimately tied to stereotype-ridden features of victimization.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
victimization, emotion, gender stereotypes, expectancy violation, observer reactions
Citation
Bosma, A. K., Mulder, E., Pemberton, A., & Vingerhoets, A. J. (2018). Observer Reactions to Emotional Victims of Serious Crimes: Stereotypes and Expectancy Violations. Psychology, Crime & Law, (just-accepted), 1-45.