Interpersonal victimization tendency: what it is and its characteristics

Let's see what interpersonal victimization tendency is, and how to recognize this type of behavior.

Interpersonal victimization tendency is a concept that refers to a behavioral pattern common in certain people. in certain people. It is easy for all of us to quickly think of someone in particular.

With these paragraphs we will better understand what this attitude consists of, how we can identify it, what are the repercussions it usually has for the person in question and what is the way to deal with someone characterized by these behaviors.

What is the tendency to interpersonal victimhood?

When we speak of a tendency to interpersonal victimhood we refer to those people who have some difficulty in self-regulating when faced with a situation of social ambiguity and are therefore overwhelmed by their emotions. They see themselves as victims affected by the events that have taken place, regardless of the fact that objectively there is no objective reason for them to be affected.They see themselves as victims affected by the events that have occurred, regardless of the fact that objectively it has not happened in such a way, since the weight falls on the perception they have.

This type of behavior can occur sporadically in any person, depending on the specific circumstances of the moment, but when it is a clear tendency and therefore a recurrent behavior, we would be talking about a tendency to interpersonal victimhood, which is the type of attitude that concerns us. Therefore, isolated victimizing behaviors would not fall into this category.

One of the characteristics of this type of person is that they constantly resort to an external locus of control. What does this mean? In that most of the time they will claim that the control of the situation depends on factors beyond their control and therefore nothing they do will affect the final outcome.They are passive subjects and victims of events.

On the contrary, people with internal locus of control assume their ability to influence their own destiny through their actions and decisions. This profile of individuals are aware of the value of their behaviors and know when an event has been a consequence of them, either with a positive or negative result, both for them and for other people. This way of acting and thinking would be the opposite of the tendency to interpersonal victimhood.

Characteristics of this behavior pattern

Researchers such as Rahav Gabay have found four characteristics in the personality of this type of individual.

The first of these has to do with the interest in making clear to others the fact that they are or have been victims of some situation.. The second refers to the moral superiority that they usually possess, thus giving more importance to their own ethical evaluations than those of others.

The next characteristic is surprising, since it refers to the lack of empathy they tend to show. the lack of empathy that they tend to show in situations of suffering in other individuals, i.e., the opposite of what they usually show in other individuals.This is the opposite of what they ask for themselves, which is the constant acknowledgement of their Pain and the recognition of the fact that they are victims, as dictated by the first point. The last of the characteristics would refer to constant ruminations about moments in which they consider that they have been victims in the past.

Another important point that these authors highlight in their studies is that the tendency to interpersonal victimhood is not necessarily caused by events in which the subjects actually become victims of a certain event, and likewise, people who suffer these events do not necessarily develop a tendency to interpersonal victimhood, so that both phenomena do not have a causal relationship either one way or the other.

So how is this type of mentality generated? Among all the variables that the authors studied in their research, there is one that stands out in particular and that is the type of attachment that the person developed during childhood.. In this sense, if the person shows a type of anxious attachment, there will be a greater probability of having a tendency to interpersonal victimization, since both variables show a statistical correlation.

Individuals with this attachment profile are characterized by a constant search for validation from others, sometimes due to a poor self-concept. These people take it for granted that they will be rejected by others before this happens and at the same time they need to be approved, as their self-esteem depends on it. This is where the tendency to interpersonal victimhood would seem to come into play, as a mechanism to achieve such approval.

Thanks to this type of mentality, these individuals find a way to establish interactions with other people in which they receive the attention they need and capture the sympathy of others for their victimizing narratives. In any case, this motivational explanation is valid for individual cases, but it is also interesting to note the conclusions that were established for groups.

In that case, Gabay and the rest of the researchers mention the phenomenon of collective victimization. According to them, all beliefs are susceptible to being learned and those related to the tendency to interpersonal victimhood would be no exception. In that sense, these people could have learned the potential benefits of this type of mentality and therefore this would have favored its development.

Psychological effects of the tendency to interpersonal victimhood.

We have already reviewed the characteristics and possible origins of the tendency to interpersonal victimhood. We must now look at the possible consequences that this behavior may have for the person who engages in it. We start from the fact that in every disagreement between two people, each of them will experience a unique experience that may imply a great difference between the visions that both have of the same situation.

This also implies that the person will tend to remember the events experienced through the filters that he/she has in his/her personality. This is where we can find a series of biases that are related to the tendency to interpersonal victimhood. Let's look at them in more detail.

1. Interpretation bias

The first is the so-called interpretation bias. What causes this phenomenon is that the person tends to interpret any social situation in a certain way. social situation in a particular way, in this case as an offense.. This bias also works preventively, before the event in question occurs.

In this way, the person would interpret that the situation is going to develop in a certain way in which he/she is going to end up being a victim, and could also fall into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2. Attributional bias of harmful behaviors

The second bias that we find in people with a tendency to interpersonal victimhood is the one that attributes to others a propensity for harmful behavior. Attributing to others a propensity to engage in harmful behaviors towards others, which would justify that the former are more likely to engage in harmful behaviors.This would justify that the former see more easily the possibility of being morally hurt during social interactions.

With this predisposition, if they finally have a conflict, they will experience it with much more intensity than those who do not show this predisposition. In addition, this bias can also occur at the level this bias can also occur at the collective level.This can be attributed to individuals from out-groups, so that victimizing individuals think that these people, because they are from another group, are going to be hurtful to them in some way.

3. Negative memory bias

Continuing with the different biases, the researchers also found the negative memory bias. What this bias causes is that the individual who experiences it tends to remember more easily all the negative elements that have had to do with the situation experienced, to the detriment of those of a positive nature. This favors people with a tendency to interpersonal victimhood to think that the event has been especially negative.

This bias seems to be connected with ruminationsThese are the facilitators of individuals tending to remember especially the negative components of the situation they are recalling. The effect of the negative memory bias can also be amplified by the group, as individuals may see their thesis supported by their neighbor, when both consider that they have been victims of someone outside their collective.

4. Forgiveness

Although it is not a bias per se, the authors of this study also found another effect in people who suffer from interpersonal victimhood tendency. It has to do with forgiveness, since these subjects would seem to show a lower tendency to want to forgive others if they felt that they had been hurt by them.. On the contrary, they would have impulses to take revenge for such an affront, quite the opposite of forgiveness.

Bibliographical references:

• Bar-Tal, D., Chernyak-Hai, L., Schori, N., Gundar, A. (2009). A sense of self-perceived collective victimhood in intractable conflicts. International review of the Red Cross. Cambridge University Press.
• Fassin, D., Rechtman, R. (2009). The empire of trauma: An inquiry into the condition of victimhood. Princeton University Press.
• Gabay, R., Hameiri, B., Rubel-Lifschitz, T., Nadler, A. (2020). The tendency for interpersonal victimhood: The personality construct and its consequences. Personality and Individual Differences. Elsevier.
• Vollhardt, J. (2020). The Social Psychology of Collective Victimhood. Oxford University Press.