Victim sensitivity in groups: When is one a detriment to all?

Abstract

Victim sensitivity (VS)—a personality trait reflecting the anxious expectation of being exploited—reliably predicts egoistic behavior in interpersonal situations. Here, we look at intragroup situations and investigate whether even one highly victim‐sensitive individual can have a detrimental effect of solidarity and cooperativeness on the entire group. Two studies—one field study with community residents from Philippine villages who played a solidarity game (N ≈ 800 individuals, 30 villages) and one lab study with participants in a small‐group setting (N = 144 individuals, 48 groups) who played a public goods game—show that the highest VS score in a group negatively predicts solidarity and cooperation in the group, especially when external stressors (e.g., a natural disaster and a climate of distrust) are present and group‐level resilience factors (e.g., in‐group identification and task enjoyment) are absent. These results are relevant for research on the intragroup processes both from a basic as well as from an applied perspective.

Justice Sensitivity in Intergroup Contexts: A Theoretical Framework

“…These considerations can be debated, since personal concerns might be outweighed by concerns about the in-group when individuals strongly identify as group members. Indeed, in-group mistrust has been found to play less of a role among highly identified (compared to less identified) group members (Gollwitzer et al, 2021). Future research can fruitfully address this stimulating question.…”

“…The bulk of the literature on JS has been focused on individual-level processes and interpersonal contexts. Nevertheless, there are several papers in which authors have addressed the relevance of the JS perspectives in political contexts and for grouplevel processes (e.g., Gollwitzer et al, 2021). Here, we selectively review those studies that shed light on the roles that the JS perspectives might play in intergroup contexts.…”

The virus of distrust: How one victim‐sensitive group member can affect the entire group's outcomes

“…Turning to intragroup contexts, Gollwitzer et al. (2021) have shown that solidarity and cooperation within a group are reduced by the victim sensitivity of the most victim‐sensitive group member, especially if group‐level risk factors (i.e., external stressors) are present and resilience factors (i.e., social identity) are absent.…”

“…Although the two studies reported by Gollwitzer et al. (2021) confirm that one particularly victim‐sensitive member can be detrimental to group outcomes, they leave a number of questions open. First, it is unclear whether VS‐Max specifically affects prosocial behaviours within the group or other group outcomes, too.…”

“…In the group task of Studies 1 and 2, conscientiousness moderated the effects of VS on group performance. However, past research showed different boundary conditions(Gollwitzer et al, 2021), such as negative interdependence and (low) social identity. Future research should therefore develop a comprehensive framework specifying the boundary conditions under which the hypothesized effect of VS on group performance may or may not occur (or, may be stronger vs. weaker).…”