The social consequences of becoming a victimA multi-study project involving adults and children

According to the 2020 UNESCO report, at least 30% of students fall victim to bullying, physical, or verbal violence at school. Poland’s Educational Research Institute (Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych) indicates that in 2014, as many as 40% of boys and 26% of girls in Poland were victims of psychological violence at school, while 10% of them are regularly tormented. These data suggest that most children of various ages become victims of immoral behavior at least several times during their school education.

In the case of adults, the statistics appear to be even more alarming. For example, an online survey conducted in 2018 by the non-profit organization StopStreet shows that over 70% of women have experienced some form of harassment.

Of course, this only concerns data for selected immoral behaviors. If we take into account all statistics regarding immoral behaviors such as theft, workplace violence, mobbing, burglaries, and assaults — one can only imagine the scale of the phenomenon.

The purpose of this project is to investigate how both adult and underage victims of violence are socially perceived.

The research team will focus on seeking answers to the following questions:

• How does being a victim affect the perception of that person by others in the context of their moral and agentic traits, such as competence and intelligence?
• How is a victim who later becomes a perpetrator morally judged by others? How do victims perceive themselves in terms of morality and competence?
• How do children in different cultures perceive the hurt of the victims in the context of pro- and anti-social behaviors and their purpose?

To address these issues, the researchers will conduct 7 studies involving adults and preschoolers (a total of 13 experiments). The study will help to understand not only how victims are perceived by others, but also how and when these perceptions evolve during human development.