When Will a Victim Be Secondarily Victimized? The Effect of Observer's Belief in a Just World, Victim's Innocence and Persistence of Suffering

Isabel Correia; Jorge Vala

doi:10.1023/A:1026313716185

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PsychologyN/A

intermediate

When Will a Victim Be Secondarily Victimized? The Effect of Observer's Belief in a Just World, Victim's Innocence and Persistence of Suffering

Isabel Correia & Jorge Vala (2003)

Published: Dec 1, 2003
Journal: Social Justice Research · Vol. 16 · No. 4
DOI: 10.1023/A:1026313716185

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At a GlanceAI

Shows how observers’ belief in a just world shapes secondary victimization depending on victim innocence and ongoing suffering.

SummaryAI

This article examines when observers are more likely to “secondarily victimize” a target (e.g., derogate or blame the victim) as a function of the observer’s belief in a just world. It focuses on how two contextual cues—whether the victim is seen as innocent and whether the victim’s suffering persists—moderate these reactions. The work matters because it links a core justice motive (BJW) to harmful social judgments of victims, highlighting conditions under which just-world thinking may intensify rather than reduce support for victims. Its implications point to psychological mechanisms that can perpetuate stigma and unsympathetic responses, especially when suffering continues and threatens observers’ sense that the world is fair.

Method SnapshotAI

A social-psychological study testing how manipulated information about victim innocence and persistence of suffering interacts with observers’ just-world beliefs to predict victim-directed judgments.

BackgroundAI

Basic social psychology of attribution and justice motives, especially belief in a just world and victim-blaming/derogation.

In Collections

Psychology41 papers

The Belief in a Just World

In this collection I gather (mostly) psychological studies devoted to people’s fundamental belief that the world is just. This construct, it seems to me, quite strongly affects our perception of the world and, importantly, our reaction to ongoing events — especially when we start blaming others, guided implicitly by precisely this motive. The collection includes both curated works, which at some point I read carefully and can say something sensible about, and new works being published on the topic.

Evgeny Smirnov