Victim Once Again: Perpetual Ingroup Victimhood
Orientation (PIVO) in Intergroup Conflicts
Noa Schori1, Yechiel Klar1 & Sonia Roccas2
1Tel
Aviv University, Israel, 2The Open University, Israel
Abstract: We introduce the concept of Perpetual Ingroup Victimhood Orientation (PIVO) as a fundamental belief that affects
attitudes and behavior during an intergroup conflict. In three studies we examine the relationships between PIVO, moral
entitlement (the belief that the ingroup is allowed to do anything to ensure its survival), sensitivity to losses encountered by the
enemy outgroup, and group-based guilt.
Findings of study 1 indicate that moral entitlement fully mediates the relationship between PIVO and sensitivity to losses
encountered by the enemy outgroup. Findings of study 2 show that when conflict-related threat is made salient PIVO becomes
a weaker predictor of group-based guilt. Study 3 indicates that a real-life conflict-related threat increases PIVO, moral
entitlement and willingness to accept damage to outgroup civilians, and decreases moral alarm and group-based guilt.
Introduction
The ways groups behave during intergroup conflicts are influenced not only by contemporary events. General attitudes and beliefs may have a vast impact on the group's conduct, even if objectively they
have little relation to the current conflict. One influencing factor is the group's history, particularly traumatic history of persecution and suffering. The effects of collective trauma can range from increased
ingroup cohesiveness and increased empathy to the suffering of others to hypervigilance, aggressiveness, and feelings of vulnerability, humiliation, anger and vengefulness. We introduce a model that
encompasses two possible paths diverging from past collective trauma: moral alarm and perpetual ingroup victimhood orientation. Moral alarm is the apprehension that the group may become as aggressive
and violent as its own worst past enemies. PIVO is the sense of that the group is eternally threatened by conniving enemies planning to annihilate it, and that historical enemies are reincarnated in present
adversaries. The hypothesized consequences of PIVO include an increase in moral entitlement (the belief that all is allowed in order to ensure the group's survival), reduction in group-based guilt and
increased willingness to tolerate damage caused to innocent outgroup members.
Figure 1: Structural Equations Model of PIVO and consequences
Study 1
The goal of the study was to examine the relationship between PIVO, moral entitlement and sensitivity
to losses encountered by the enemy outgroup.
.62*
•PIVO (e.g., "Even under different guises, the hatred toward us is the same at its base");
•Moral Entitlement (e.g., "when required to defend ourselves, moral considerations are irrelevant");
R2=.55
Group-based
Guilt
R2=.73
-.41*
-.23*
•Willingness to accept damage to outgroup civilians as an inevitable part of the conflict (e.g.,
determining the magnitude of the missile targeted at a Palestinian terrorist while taking into
consideration the number of civilian casualties)
.66*
.28*
MA
•Group-based guilt (e.g., "Israel is to blame for much of the Palestinians' suffering").
A SEM analysis indicated that PIVO predicts willingness to accept damage to outgroup civilians and
group-based guilt. This relationship is fully mediated by moral entitlement .
Moral Entitlement
PIVO
•Moral Alarm (e.g., "We are in danger of treating other peoples in the we were treated by our worst
enemies");
-.68*
Willingness to
accept damage to
outgroup civilians
R2=.44
χ2 (60; N = 103) = 78.544. NFI, NNFI, CFI = .95, .98, .98, respectively, and RMSEA = .052 [.000 -.081].
All coefficients are statistically significant at p < .01.
Study 2
Figure 2: Effects of PIVO and manipulated threat on group-based guilt
The goal of study 2 was to explore the effect of threat on the relationship between PIVO
and group-based guilt. We hypothesized that conflict-related threat, but not other types of
threat, would cause people to become highly victimhood-orientated, thus decreasing the
predictive power of individual differences in PIVO. 71 Jewish-Israeli students were
randomly assigned to one of three priming groups: neutral, general threat and conflictrelated threat. Participants completed a measure of PIVO, underwent a scrambled
instructions task that served as the priming manipulation, and completed a measure of
group-based guilt.
4.5
3.91
Group-based Guilt
4
Results of regression analysis supported our hypothesis. We found a main effect of PIVO on
group-based guilt (β=-.854, p<.001). The higher the level of PIVO, the lower group-based
guilt participants displayed. An interaction between PIVO and experimental condition was
also found (β=1.242, p=.013). Under conflict-related threat low-PIVO participants
experienced less group-based guilt than under other types of threat. The results are
displayed in figure 2 (participants are divided into high- and low-PIVO according to a
median split).
3.83
3.5
3.14
2.89
3
2.5
2.78
high PIVO
low PIVO
2.45
2
1.5
1
neutral
general
conflict-related
Type of Threat
Study 3
Figure 3: PIVO and consequences during and after a military operation
In study 3 we examine the effects of a real-life threatening situation (an upsurge in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict) on PIVO and its outcome variables. We hypothesized that
thereat would increase PIVO, moral entitlement and willingness to accept damage to
outgroup civilians, and would decrease moral alarm and group-based guilt. The design of
the study was cross sectional. In T1 93 Jewish-Israeli students completed the
questionnaires during a military operation Israel conducted in the Gaza strip, during which
Palestinian conducted daily missile attacks on southern Israel. In T2, two months after the
operation ended, 118 students completed the same set of questionnaires. Results
supported our hypothesis, indicating higher PIVO and moral entitlement and lower groupbased guilt during the operation. Participants were also more tolerant of inflicting damage
upon outgroup civilians in order to achieve the ingroup’s goal (e.g., accept heavier
casualties to civilian population in order to accomplish a successful assassination of an
outgroup military leader) during the operation.
5
4.5
4.37
3.81
4
3.55
3.50
3.5
3.26
3
2.77
2.5
T1: During the military
operation
T2: Two months after the
military operation
2
1.5
1
PIVO
Moral
Entitlement
Group-based
Guilt
Conclusions
PIVO is an important factor in predicting certain group attitudes and emotions in ingtergroup conflicts, such as guilt and tolerance to damage to outgroup civilians. A relatively stable construct, PIVO is also
affected by context. During times of threat, people who don’t usually perceive their group as an eternal victim temporarily behave as if they were high on the perpetual victimhood schema.