How Victim Sensitivity leads to Uncooperative Behavior via Expectancies of Injustice

Frontiers in Psychology

Simona Maltese¹ 

关键词: expectancy tendencies;    cooperation;    trust;    justice sensitivity;    information processing;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02059

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

According to the Sensitivity-to-mean-intentions model, dispositional victim sensitivity involves a suspicious mindset that is activated by situational cues and guides subsequent information processing and behavior like a schema. Study 1 tested whether victim-sensitive persons are more prone to form expectancies of injustice in ambiguous situations and whether these expectancies mediate the relationship between victim sensitivity and cooperation behavior in a trust game. Results show an indirect effect of victim sensitivity on cooperation after unfair treatment (vs. control condition), mediated by expectancies of injustice. In Study 2 we directly manipulated the tendency to form expectancies of injustice in ambiguous situations to test for causality. Results confirmed that the readiness to expect unjust outcomes led to lower cooperation, compared to a control condition. These findings provide direct evidence that expectancy tendencies are implicated in elevated victim sensitivity and are of theoretical and practical relevance.

【 授权许可】

CC BY