Collective victimhood beliefs among majority and minority groups: Links to ingroup and outgroup attitudes and attribution of responsibility for conflict

Abstract

We examined perceived ingroup and outgroup victimhood beliefs across group status and how these were uniquely associated with ingroup and outgroup attitudes and attribution of responsibility among majority (Turkish, N = 141) and minority (Kurdish, N = 86) group members in Turkey. We further explored whether the extent to which collective victimhood beliefs were shared via ingroup and outgroup members predicted our dependent measures beyond the subjective perception of ingroup victimhood. Findings showed that both groups perceived higher ingroup victimhood compared to outgroup victimhood and this difference was more pronounced among the minority group. Perceived outgroup victimhood beliefs, compared to ingroup victimhood beliefs, were more closely related to intergroup outcomes, and led to more positive outgroup and more negative ingroup outcomes. Both groups shared collective victimhood beliefs more with their ingroup friends than their outgroup friends and ingroup sharing of collective victimhood was a stronger predictor of intergroup outcomes, relating to more positive ingroup and more negative outgroup outcomes. Outgroup sharing of collective victimhood was related to more positive outgroup attitudes and lower ingroup responsibility among the Turkish group, whereas it was not related to outgroup attitudes and negatively related to ingroup attribution of responsibility among the Kurdish group. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.