Free Republic

A new personality construct has been defined that describes people who persistently see themselves as victims within interpersonal conflicts. The research was published in Personality and Individual Differences. Study authors Rahav Gabay and team describe how the social world is satiated with interpersonal transgressions that are often unpleasant and seemingly unwarranted, such as being interrupted when speaking. While some people can easily brush off these moments of hurt, others tend to ruminate over them and persistently paint themselves as a victim. The authors present this feeling of being the victim as a novel personality construct that influences how people make...

Researchers have defined a new personality construct to describe individuals who consistently see themselves as victims. The research, published in Personality and Individual Differences, defined Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood, or TIV, as “an enduring feeling that the self is a victim across different kinds of interpersonal relationships.” Rahav Gabay of Israel’s School of Psychological Sciences and her team of researchers conducted a series of eight studies of Israeli adults to explore the validity of the personality trait. The initial studies showed that TIV possesses four dimensions: moral elitism, a lack of empathy, the need for recognition, and rumination. Two other...