Victim blame can have detrimental effects on victims' coping with traumatic events. The current study examined contextual (i.e., victim-observer ingroup membership and safety of the environment) and individual difference (i.e., world beliefs, trauma exposure, and cognitive semantic associations) factors in relation to victim blame. Ingroup membership predicted greater character praise in females, while outgroup membership predicted greater praise in males. Victim praise was also greater when the environment was safe versus dangerous. Stronger beliefs about the manageability of the world marginally predicted greater victim blame, while stronger benevolent world beliefs predicted less victim blame and less character derogation. Further, the number of traumatic event types reported by participants was positively related to character praise and negatively related to derogation. Histories of exposure to traumas high in betrayal predicted greater character derogation. Using an implicit semantic priming task to examine the automatic semantic associations between victim and derogation concepts, victim-to-derogation priming was related to less victim blame.
","abstract_html":"<p>Victim blame can have detrimental effects on victims' coping with traumatic events. The current study examined contextual (i.e., victim-observer ingroup membership and safety of the environment) and individual difference (i.e., world beliefs, trauma exposure, and cognitive semantic associations) factors in relation to victim blame. Ingroup membership predicted greater character praise in females, while outgroup membership predicted greater praise in males. Victim praise was also greater when the environment was safe versus dangerous. Stronger beliefs about the manageability of the world marginally predicted greater victim blame, while stronger benevolent world beliefs predicted less victim blame and less character derogation. Further, the number of traumatic event types reported by participants was positively related to character praise and negatively related to derogation. Histories of exposure to traumas high in betrayal predicted greater character derogation. Using an implicit semantic priming task to examine the automatic semantic associations between victim and derogation concepts, victim-to-derogation priming was related to less victim blame.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Combs, Melody Dawn"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Anne P. DePrince, Ph.D.","Daniel McIntosh","George Potts","Stephen Shirk","Maria Riva"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2008,"date_issued":"2008-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2008-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:19Z","subjects":["Just world beliefs","Trauma","Victim blame","Victim perceptions","Counseling Psychology","Psychology"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/786","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Anne P. DePrince, Ph.D.","Daniel McIntosh","George Potts","Stephen Shirk","Maria Riva"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Combs, Melody Dawn"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2001-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Just world beliefs","Trauma","Victim blame","Victim perceptions","Counseling Psychology","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Effects of Contextual and Individual Difference Factors on Perceptions of Victims"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Anne P. DePrince, Ph.D.","Daniel McIntosh","George Potts","Stephen Shirk","Maria Riva"],"dc:creator":["Combs, Melody Dawn"],"dc:date.available":["2001-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Victim blame can have detrimental effects on victims' coping with traumatic events. The current study examined contextual (i.e., victim-observer ingroup membership and safety of the environment) and individual difference (i.e., world beliefs, trauma exposure, and cognitive semantic associations) factors in relation to victim blame. Ingroup membership predicted greater character praise in females, while outgroup membership predicted greater praise in males. Victim praise was also greater when the environment was safe versus dangerous. Stronger beliefs about the manageability of the world marginally predicted greater victim blame, while stronger benevolent world beliefs predicted less victim blame and less character derogation. Further, the number of traumatic event types reported by participants was positively related to character praise and negatively related to derogation. Histories of exposure to traumas high in betrayal predicted greater character derogation. Using an implicit semantic priming task to examine the automatic semantic associations between victim and derogation concepts, victim-to-derogation priming was related to less victim blame.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/786"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"dc:subject":["Just world beliefs","Trauma","Victim blame","Victim perceptions","Counseling Psychology","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Effects of Contextual and Individual Difference Factors on Perceptions of Victims"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:19Z"}