The Effects Of Response Characteristics Of Victims On Their Impression Evaluation

As Moral Typecasting Theory claimed,people would have a typecasting impression towards a moral agent or a moral patient and showed different expectancy about their characteristics and behaviors.The perception of someone as a moral agent should promote the typecasting of this person as agency—and not as a moral patient in this or other settings.Similarly,a person who was a moral patient in one circumstance should persist patiency and not be seen as a moral agent in this or other settings.From the perspective of the victim character,with four studies,this research explored the influence of different response characteristics of perceived victims on their impression evaluation and the possible psychological mechanism underlying this effect.Study 1 contained three experiments,we used virtual situation(study 1a)and real situation(study 1b)as research materials to explore effect of response characteristics of victims on their perceived impression.Results showed that the perceived response characteristics of victims had different effects on the overall impression of the victims(study 1a)and the degree of trust(study 1b)towards victims.When perceived victim’s moral patiency,the impression of the victim was more positive and the degree of trust towards victim was higher than when perceived victim’s moral agency.Study 1 also found that(study 1c)the effect had limitations in its scope of application.In the low-crime severity condition,the impression of the victims who were perceived of moral agency was more negative than that of the victims who were perceived of moral patiency;when in the high-crime severity condition,there was no difference in the impression of the victims.Study 2 contained two experiments,which further explored whether the response characteristics of victims would affect the evaluation towards moral agents.This study combined with questionnaire method(study 2a)and experimental method(study 2b),moreover,the moral context materials in the study were presented in two ways:by text(study 2a)and by video(study 2b).The impression and trust towards victims and victimizers were respectively measured by self-report(study 2a)and the trust game(study 2b).Consistent with the results of the study 1,study 2 also found that the perceived response characteristics of victims had different effects on the impression of the victims.Besides,the results of study 2a showed that when the victims were perceived as more moral patiency,the victimizers were thought to have fewer moral rights and their transgressions were judged more harshly.While the results of study 2b showed that there had no difference in victimizer’s judgment whether the victims were perceived as agency or patiencyStudy 3 contained one experiment,which attempted to explore the mediating role in the effect of the response characteristics of victims on victim’s impression.Study 3 demonstrated that the response characteristics of victims affected their perceived impression was influenced by the serial multiple mediation of expectancy violations and moral standing.Specifically,when the victim’s characteristic of moral agency was perceived,compared with the patiency characteristic,the impression of the victim’s character was expected to be less violated,the perceived moral standing was higher,and therefore the impression of the victim was more positive.Study 4 contained one experiment to explore the buffering effect of regulatory focus on the adverse effects of victim’s response characteristics on victim’s impression.Study 4 found that,it was promotion focus,rather than defense focus,played a moderating role in the effect of victim’s response characteristics on victim’s impression.Compared with individuals with low promotion focus,high promotion focus buffered the adverse effect of victim’s response characteristics on victim’s impression.According to the above-mentioned four studies,the present research suggested that the response characteristics of victims affected their impression,what’s^more,this effect was influenced by the serial multiple mediation of expectancy violations and moral standing.In addition,individual’s promotion focus played a moderating role in these effects.Finally,the contributions,limitations and future directions of this research were also discussed.