Victim Entitlement to Behave Selfishly

Three experiments demonstrated that feeling wronged leads to a sense of entitlement and to selfish behavior. In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall a time when their lives were unfair were more likely to refuse to help the experimenter with a supplementary task than were participants who...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2010-02, Vol.98 (2), p.245-255
Main Authors: Zitek, Emily M, Jordan, Alexander H, Monin, Benoît, Leach, Frederick R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
Attitudes
Behavior
Behavior. Attitude
Biological and medical sciences
Compensation
Computer games
Crime Victims - psychology
Ego
Entitlement
Entitlement (Psychological)
Experiments
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Games
Human
Humans
Individual behaviour
Injustice
Justice
Male
Money
Morality
Morals
Motivation
Perception
Psychological aspects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Self-interest
Selfinterest
Selfishness
Social Behavior
Social behaviour
Social psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Victimization
Victims
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Summary:Three experiments demonstrated that feeling wronged leads to a sense of entitlement and to selfish behavior. In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall a time when their lives were unfair were more likely to refuse to help the experimenter with a supplementary task than were participants who recalled a time when they were bored. In Experiment 2, the same manipulation increased intentions to engage in a number of selfish behaviors, and this effect was mediated by self-reported entitlement to obtain positive (and avoid negative) outcomes. In Experiment 3, participants who lost at a computer game for an unfair reason (a glitch in the program) requested a more selfish money allocation for a future task than did participants who lost the game for a fair reason, and this effect was again mediated by entitlement.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/a0017168