Work

When It’s Bad to Be Lucky: Observers’ Judgments of Fortuitous Victims

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: We framed crime victims as lucky, through downward counterfactual comparisons, and tested this “luck framing” influence on observers’ judgments of the victims. Victims framed as lucky and aware (Experiment 1) or unaware (Experiment 3) of their luck were rated as in need of less social support than victims who were not framed as lucky. This luck framing effect generalized to victim compensation: lucky aware victims were rated as deserving of less compensation compared to unlucky victims (Experiment 2). In contrast, luck framing of victims had little influence on observers’ judgments of the severity of the sentence a perpetrator should receive (Experiment 4). Taken together, for crime victims it can be bad to be thought of as lucky.

Source: Basic and Applied Social Psychology

DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2020.1863797

Authors: Olof Wrede, Erik Mac Giolla

Institution: University of Gothenburg

Language: English

Topic: Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics

Subfield: General Decision Sciences

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Brottsoffermyndigheten, Stiftelserna Wilhelm och Martina Lundgrens