Victimization - What is it? Victim Syndrome

Victimization is a concept that in some psychological modalities is interpreted as the process of becoming a victim. According to one of the founders of the doctrine of positivist victimology, B. Mendelssohn, the concept of “victim” is the opposite of the concept of “criminal”.

The very term “victim” and the theory that a person, unconsciously or consciously, by his behavior provokes a criminal to commit violent acts, causes a lot of controversy among psychologists.

What is victimization behavior

The concept of “victim behavior” is often used in criminal psychology. Specialists in this area consider the victim’s behavior from two points of view.

According to the first, a person who has suffered from violent acts provokes the rapist to commit a crime - attacks, threatens, beats, robs or commits other dangerous actions. According to the second version, the victim does not consciously provoke, but certain actions on her part make the rapist want to demonstrate aggression

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As an illustration, we can consider the actions of a doctor who was unable to help a patient (due to an error or other reasons); this caused the patient or his relatives to want to take revenge on the specialist. If we consider this situation from the first point of view, then the patient plays the role of the victim. He chose a specialist who played the role of the rapist. The patient-victim at the treatment stage sees in the doctor a strong person who can be trusted and admires him. The victim herself, who finds herself in a similar situation, is characterized by low self-esteem, shy and timid. Often such a person shifts the blame for his mistakes and failures onto those around him, “fate”.

Adhering to the second interpretation, we consider the situation as follows. The specialist takes the position of a rapist - he conflicts, uses physical or other types of violence. When he meets a stronger opponent in the person of a relative of the patient, he himself enters into the role of the victim.

It also happens that a physically and psychologically very strong person chooses to play the role of a victim. He is forced to make such a choice by circumstances in which it is necessary to protect himself or loved ones from injustice, to defend his own principles. Such behavior is not considered pathological and is justified in a psychological sense.

Examples

Each of us could observe examples of victimization in everyday life. Here, let's say, is the situation when a girl returning home from a party late at night walks instead of calling a taxi. Consciously or unconsciously, it provokes an attack by intruders, especially if the action takes place in a disadvantaged area.

Another common situation is when a person gets involved in a conflict with a drunken hooligan, rowdy, while he could have walked by.

As already mentioned, when a person finds himself in a victim situation, many illiterate people cause such a speculative reaction as justifying the rapist. This is also common in many traditional societies, including Islamic ones. There, for example, no one stands up for a raped woman, since it is believed that she dressed and behaved too “provocatively” - she was on the street without a burqa, without a man accompanying her, wore open clothes, trousers, etc. In some countries (as in In Saudi Arabia, a raped woman is officially brought before a Sharia court as the culprit because she “provoked the sinful behavior” of her attacker.

In Russian society, of course, such legislation does not exist; however, victim blaming is widespread. This is facilitated by the extremely low level of education and culture of Russians, outdated ideas about “rules of decency,” as well as a criminal gang mentality, a tendency to live “by convention” and extol villains.

Basic principles of victimization

The tendency to victimize is formed in childhood and consolidated in adolescence. One of the most important factors in the formation of victimization in children is the situation of physical and emotional violence in the family. A significant role is also played by the destructive influence on the psyche of adolescents from significant adults (relatives, teachers), and peers.

Under the influence of these factors, certain personal characteristics appear:

• increased anxiety, uncertainty and low self-esteem;
• emotional instability;
• the tendency to ignore one's own interests in favor of others.

Often, a “victim” with low self-esteem strives to prove his strength, rightness, and test his strength. This results in risky behavior (most often in adolescents).

In some cases, victimization is a concomitant of mental disorders. Problems of social adaptation of a pathological nature can result in a tendency to masochism and sadism, exhibitionism, and nymphomania. Similar manifestations of mental abnormalities can occur among victims of crimes (sometimes repeated with the same victim).

A person can also fall into the position of a victim if he:

• is in a subordinate position, he fulfills the demands of the aggressor, but very slowly, which “angers” the attacker even more;
• behaves provocatively or in his usual way, but the abuser views his behavior as offensive.

The fact that the aggressor in both these cases perceives the actions of the “victim” as offensive and unacceptable is solely his subjective opinion of the attacker. It is connected with the peculiarities of his perception and thinking.

How does victimization manifest itself?

Victim behavior , according to some experts, is reflected in the fact that a person often finds himself in situations where he finds himself in the position of the victim. In criminal psychology, victimization is considered as the ability to “attract” and attract the attention of antisocial individuals - rapists, maniacs.

According to victimization theory, the victim behaves in a certain way. His behavior arouses increased interest and awakens the desire to show aggression in the criminal.

Victim behavior from a psychological point of view

According to supporters of the victimization theory, it is especially often demonstrated by adolescents who:

• very ambitious;
• tend to defend their point of view;
• maximalistic;
• have insufficient life experience.

All of these factors cause teenagers to often find themselves in unpleasant, and often dangerous, situations. It’s not the result they hoped to get that forces them to “go for a second round” and achieve their goal. This again turns into trouble.

Some people tend to conflict even when there are no objective reasons for a clash. But it is known that those who offend their peers direct aggression towards children and demonstrate special behavior. They do not enter into conflicts even if their personal interests are affected; they try to avoid confrontation and hide from troubles.

“Victims” are vulnerable, naive, and physically weaker than their offenders. The appearance of those who more often than others fall into the “victim” position also attracts attention. Teenagers often have an absent-minded look, a rustic expression on their faces, stoop, their gait is uncertain, mincing.

Here we cannot help but emphasize that legal experts and the vast majority of psychologists believe that such “signs of a victim” in no way justify the criminal and do not reduce the degree of his guilt for the violence committed.

Two types of victimization behavior

People who tend to exhibit victimized behavior can take the place not only of a potential victim, but also of a rapist. Therefore, there are 2 very different types of behavior.

Compromising or conforming - people take on the role of a victim, expect violent actions against them, deception, and insults. They show timidity, easily submit to the will of others, and often not only justify the behavior of their rapist, but also consider it correct. The reason for such “worship” of the aggressor is that the victim sees in him a stronger personality who is capable of committing actions that she herself does not dare to do.

People with a conformist position have low self-esteem; they are confident in their insignificance and inability to decide or be responsible for anything. They shift the blame for their failures onto external circumstances or other people, like to complain, and do not hide their position: “What about me? I'm just a victim."

Demonstrative or emotionally unstable behavior is typical for people who themselves show aggression and provoke others. The form of provocation can be open or implicit. This behavior manifests itself in bullying of the weaker and psychological violence.

Examples of victimization behavior

As mentioned earlier, people with low self-esteem are prone to victimized behavior. Confident that they are wrong and incompetent, they accept the other person’s position as the only correct one and force themselves to follow it. It seems to the victim that her victimization should pity the rapist and stop his intention to commit a crime. As a rule, helplessness and submission provoke the criminal even more.

One of the most striking examples of victim behavior is Stockholm syndrome.

This is the state of the victim, in which at one moment she sensually goes over to the side of her rapist and abuser. He looks for justification for his actions, idealizes his tormentor, tries to understand his motives, sympathizes with him, or even falls in love with him. Sometimes this comes to the point that the victim resists his savior (the person who is trying to get her out of an abusive relationship, or a law enforcement officer in the case of hostage-taking). This is the most classic example of victimization in criminology.

The victimized type of woman often faces domestic violence from her husband or cohabitant, and is subject to accusations of provocative behavior (she was brightly dressed and made up, stayed with her friends, etc.). The victim often, especially from her personality, accepts these accusations and under under constant pressure he admits his “guilt” and the deservedness of this punishment.

The victim’s victimization behavior can be more pronounced: ridicule, threats towards the criminal, an open call to commit a crime (takes “weakly”), infringement of the personal dignity of the criminal, an attempt to show one’s superiority.

Of course, the victim is not always directly or indirectly to blame for being subjected to violence. In this case, they talk about situational victimization. This is a situation in which the victim simply found himself in the wrong time and place, which is why he found himself in a situation dangerous to life and health.

Types of victimization

Victimization is a large complex of features that are considered as the cause of aggression and illegal actions. Researchers have identified several types of victimization.

Behavioral - manifests itself in the position “I am guilty” and “I am innocent.” A person who takes the position of an innocent person often provokes aggression towards himself and deliberately chooses dangerous situations. Being in the position of the innocent, he falls into it by accident, he does not provoke the aggressor in any way.

Based on the number of victims, mass and individual victimization are distinguished. With mass victimization, a large group of people (often of a certain nationality, with physical characteristics) suffers. In the case of individual victimization, there is only one victim.

Factors that give rise to a tendency towards victimization

It is believed that the victim’s victim behavior manifests itself against the background of mental disorders and personality traits. But there are other reasons that make a person behave like a victim.

Social factors

Stable self-esteem, the ability to defend one’s interests and boundaries are formed in the process of upbringing in a family. A person who grew up in a calm environment, felt complete acceptance and love from his parents, respect from adults for himself and for each other, even on a subconscious level, does not wish harm to himself. He has a well-developed instinct of self-preservation, which prevents victimization from appearing.

In order for the innate survival program inherent in each individual to fail, and for a person to become a victim, he must be influenced by very serious factors. They may be:

• peculiarities of upbringing in the family - frequent conflicts, drunkenness of parents or one of them, drug addiction, antisocial lifestyle, physical cruelty towards the child, psychological violence;
• the child’s lack of feeling that his parents love him, care for him, and treat him with warmth;
• excessive care from parents. Attempts to protect the child from any difficulties of life and external influences do not allow the personality to develop normally. As a result, a person grows up who does not know how to distinguish between good and bad, and to resist pressure and danger. A person who grew up in conditions of hyperprotection is infantile, does not know how to plan the future and foresee the result of his actions, and does not know the laws of society well;
• conflicts among peers (most often in adolescence);
• negative emotional experiences (participation in or observation of scenes of violence) in childhood;
• a feeling of insufficient attractiveness, inferiority, which appeared due to the reaction of others to personal characteristics.

The listed factors are associated with the aggressive, toxic environment in which a person grows. Such conditions form a subjective, deformed idea of ​​oneself, one’s own place in society, and the significance of life.

Phenomenological factors

The unfavorable environment in which a child is raised often creates the basis for his victimization. He becomes a person unable to stand up for himself, he has a weak will to achieve what he wants and a tendency to rely on circumstances.

Experts believe that the foundation of future victimization is the child’s tendency to show aggression towards animals and other children. By offending others, weaker ones, and not receiving an adequate response to his actions, the child learns that violence is normal. He is ready for the fact that it can be directed against him.

Often aggression in children and adolescents arises not only due to the characteristics of family communication. The environment of peers, watching films and programs with scenes of violence, and computer games have a very great influence. But the main role in the formation of victimization is still assigned to social conditions. If in real life the child is not in a situation where violence is normalized, then he will be able to distinguish between the reality he sees on the screen and the real one.

Constantly being in a cruel environment makes not only a child, teenager, but also an adult less sensitive to violence against others and towards themselves. He is in a depressed emotional state, experiencing anxiety, constantly waiting for a catch or disaster.

Victimization and its classification

This is a fairly broad concept, studied from the perspective of the victim’s behavior, her personal attitudes, and social factors, so that, depending on the chosen classification, several types of victimization can be distinguished in each.

In criminology, the following 3 types of victim behavior are distinguished:

• careless;
• risky;
• dangerous;

In most cases, the criminal does not have a clear motive to commit a crime - he is pushed to do so by the victim’s behavior, which consciously or unconsciously provokes him to commit illegal actions.

The victim may offend the offender, make barbs, and disrespect the personal belongings and property of the potential rapist. If the rapist was the first to show aggression towards the victim, without any visible triggers on her part, he may be frightened or irritated by her reaction - retaliatory aggression towards him. The behavior of the victim is perceived as dangerous, the criminal feels an urgent need to “revenge”, eliminate her, or, on the contrary, expressed helplessness, fear, which pushes the sadistic criminal to commit violent acts.

Victimization is either guilty or innocent.

1. Guilty: The offender commits a crime when provoked by the careless or defiant behavior of the victim. The rapist believes that if a girl on the street is drunk or dressed provocatively, he can take advantage of her. 2. Innocent: the crime is provoked not by the specific behavior of the victim, but by the circumstances, the duties that the victim performed - a thief kills a security guard to get into the warehouse.

They are distinguished, etc. “latent” victimization - victimization that remains outside the records of law enforcement agencies. The victim, for one reason or another, does not want to seek help from the police (he is afraid of possible revenge from the criminal). She does not trust law enforcement agencies, is afraid of accusations against her, and the reasons for committing a crime against her remain unexplored.

Victimization, how to get rid of it.

Severe victimization is considered a deviation that requires treatment. Therapy for people exhibiting victimized behavior is carried out comprehensively. A person whose victim behavior was formed in childhood needs the help of a team of specialists - a psychologist, a psychotherapist (psychiatrist).

Medications prescribed by a specialist can reduce the intensity of depression, ease anxiety, and normalize sleep. All this provides a resource for further psychological and psychotherapeutic study of problematic topics.

The work of a psychotherapist or psychologist with a victimized client is aimed at:

• revision of the attitude towards the events of the past, the formation of a strong feeling that something that happened before does not affect the situation today;
• formation of a stable, positive self-perception, increasing the degree of self-esteem, developing a sense of independence;
• correction of views, attitudes, changes in behavior patterns, revision of the value system;
• developing the ability to understand your emotions and feelings, control, analyze thoughts and actions;
• developing the ability to adequately communicate with others, interact productively, and correctly assess the attitude of other people and their intentions.

All of the listed areas of psychological work are very important, but they must be complemented by the formation of an environmentally friendly, friendly environment in which a person lives. It is important to reconsider your immediate environment, stop communicating or minimize contact with people who make you feel fear and feelings of inferiority. It is necessary to direct energy to those activities in which you can get good results and achieve success. All this is not avoidance or an attempt to hide from danger, but necessary measures of mental hygiene.

Prevention of victimization

It is possible to prevent the development of victim behavior in a child, adolescent, and later in an adult if the family, society, and law enforcement agencies are ready for this. Preventing violence is the main direction that contributes to the formation of a personality that knows how to protect its physical and psychological boundaries and has adequate self-esteem.

Ideally, preventive work should be carried out at several levels at once:

• family - developing in parents a high level of empathy, the ability to understand the psychological and physiological needs of children and satisfy them;
• identification of families where violence is used against children, work of psychologists, social workers and law enforcement officers with parents;
• creating a friendly, supportive and accepting environment in preschool institutions and schools;
• creating conditions in educational institutions for the psychological development of children, as well as for the environmentally friendly processing of their negative emotions (work with a psychologist, sports clubs, creative studios);
• teaching children and adolescents the rules of psychological and physical self-defense;
• clarification of the legal consequences of violent actions.

Another very important factor in preventing victimization is not blaming the victim for what happened to them and trying to shift responsibility for the violence from the perpetrator to the victim. The latter needs the support of the law enforcement system, family, and environment.

Irina Sherbul

What are the causes of victimization?

Along with genetic determination, socio-psychological factors have a huge influence on the formation of victim behavior in the victim.

Unfavorable conditions for social adaptation:

• Alcoholism or drug addiction of parents.
• Having many children.
• Single-parent family (stepfather or stepmother instead of one of the parents, mother or single father).
• Family poverty.
• External or physical defects that lead to rejection by peers.
• Molestation, sexual harassment by relatives or strangers.
• Constant moving, changing schools and teams.
• Involvement in bad companies.
• Drug addiction, substance abuse, alcoholism in a child or teenager.
• Non-reciprocal love, romantic experiences and failures.
• Suicidal intentions.

Psychological factors:

• Emotional coldness on the part of parents.
• High or low self-esteem.
• Loneliness, awareness of one’s difference from everyone else, lack of love, recognition, oppression of a teenager as an individual.
• High degree of neuropsychic instability and anxiety.
• Social shyness, fear of showing your real feelings and emotions, suppression, excessive vulnerability and sensitivity.
• Excessive demands on the child in terms of education, communication with relatives, upbringing in a family with a strict value system that entails moral responsibility for all the individual’s misdeeds.

High victimization of the individual is formed in a family in which the child has a heavy burden of responsibilities, both physical and emotional. The child is afraid not to live up to the hopes placed on him by his parents, who form in him a feeling of guilt if he is not helpful and diligent enough.

Thus, the child is so afraid of disapproval from an adult that he can easily get into a car with a stranger who asks him to show the way, or go up to the criminal’s apartment under the pretext of providing help, and thus find himself in a trap.

Any factors that lower a person’s self-esteem increase his victimization. It’s as if he begins to feel that he “deserves” to be this victim because he did something wrong, out of a feeling of his own inferiority. His criticism decreases, and due to the lack of life and social experience, he cannot yet adequately assess the danger of communicating with a potential maniac or rapist. The inability to refuse and the attempt to gain approval makes him an ideal victim.

The cause of victimization may not only be low self-esteem. Victims with high self-esteem are also often abused. This happens because they take on tasks that they are unable to complete. Such people inadequately assess their abilities, are not critical of themselves enough, and cannot adequately assess the risks that their behavior entails. This type of victim very clearly displays that same victim behavior: they slow down cars, ask for a ride, participate in drinking parties with rapists and often initiate them, and agree to spend the night with them in the same apartment.

A person mistakenly believes that he is able, if necessary, to stand up for himself, and that his behavior, on the contrary, should turn potential criminals away from committing a crime. However, such inadequate self-confidence leads to sad consequences.

According to criminologists, a victim with high self-esteem is more likely to know or be in love with her rapist. Her criticism also decreases, she idealizes the object of her sympathy, does not see how the rapist really treats her, and may behave too openly and provocatively, mistakenly believing that this will not lead to tragedy.

Victimization is a socially deformed personality type. We can distinguish four main victimized sociotypes: conformist, infantile, anomic and marginal.

Conformist type:

1. A person feels his social failure and incompetence and does not have the opportunity to acquire these qualities. He constantly needs protection and patronage from a stronger person, recognizing her superiority over himself.

2. He strongly idealizes this more socially confident person, realizing his dependence on him, since with his help the victim makes up for his indecisiveness and softness.

3. The individual recognizes for himself that he cannot achieve anything without the support of other people, that submission and acceptance of this help is the only way to survive in society. He does not want to take responsibility for his life and destiny.

4. He is afraid of being refused social support, of being left to the mercy of fate, of solving his problems on his own. As a result, a person is constantly in emotionally destructive tension.

Infantile type:

1. A socially immature person who is aware of his inadequacy in the main areas of human social life.

2. All surrounding people are perceived as potential aggressors who want to suppress the infantile, humiliate his dignity, show their lack of involvement in his affairs and problems, criticize the victim for biased reasons.

3. The individual avoids deep interpersonal relationships because he is aware of his immaturity and incompetence in this matter.

4. The biggest fear is that those around him will adopt his attitude towards himself as an unformed person, someone who cannot be taken seriously and considered an equal member of society.

5. Avoids social comparison and evaluation because he is afraid that all his positive traits may be crossed out by the same social immaturity.

6. It is difficult for an individual to show his dissatisfaction, he is not ambitious, he lacks the courage and determination to make some claims to society, to declare himself.

Anomic type:

1. The individual considers himself a completely mature and formed personality, but at the same time he feels a certain social vulnerability associated with non-acceptance by others.

2. People are perceived as tools to achieve their goals at different stages of life's journey.

3. Due to the lack of social and intellectual maturity, he does not have a formed system of values, moral and ethical orientation.

4. Constantly suppresses anger and dissatisfaction with the fact that he has to live according to invented rules and norms in order to remain “one of his own” in society.

5. The victim strives to maintain his social independence, but at the same time it is difficult for him to cope with his problems on his own, and he seeks a social patron (as is the case with the conformist type).

Marginal type:

1. It is difficult for a person to understand his identity, since its features contradict social norms accepted in society. He has no desire to develop and accept a new identity, since the restrictions existing in society prevent him from “opening up” in all the colors of his personal attitudes and discriminate against his “I”.

2. Does not trust other people, fears their interference in his unstable, inverted state of personality.

3. He withdraws into himself, into virtual worlds and illusions. Where, unlike the world of people, one can receive that acceptance of oneself as a socially significant individual.

4. Avoids active communication and interaction with people as there is no need to receive any resources from these processes. Generally accepted forms of social interaction are simply uninteresting for marginalized victims.