Psychologist Cory Clark joins Chelsea Follett to discuss why people play the victim and the social costs of false victimhood.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/cory-clark-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-18-transcript/

Victimhood is defined in negative terms: “the condition of having been hurt, damaged, or made to suffer.” Yet humans have evolved to empathize with the suffering of others, and to provide assistance so as to eliminate or compensate for that suffering. Consequently, signaling suffering to others can be an effective strategy for attaining resources. Victims may receive attention, sympathy, and social status, as well as financial support and other benefits. And being a victim can generate certain kinds of power: It can justify the seeking of retribution, provide a sense of legitimacy or psychological standing to speak on certain issues, and may even confer moral impunity by minimizing blame for victims’ own wrongdoings.  

Article: https://quillette.com/2021/02/27/the-evolutionary-advantages-of-playing-victim/

Cory Clark is a social psychologist at University of Pennsylvania. Follow her on Twitter @ImHardcory. Learn more: https://www.coryjclark.com/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett