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.