Motivated responses to ‘senseless’ violence: explaining emotional and behavioural responses through person and position identification

We integrate and extend insights from just world theory (Lerner, 1980 ), appraisal and attribution theories of emotion (e.g. Scherer, Schorr, & Johnstone, 2001 ; Weiner, 1995 ), and the sacred value protection model (Tetlock, Kirstel, Elson, Green, & Lerner, 2000 ) to explain observers' emotional and behavioural responses to incidents of so‐called ‘senseless’ violence. The presence or absence of an opportunity to blame a victim for his or her violent fate resulted in stronger perceptions of ‘senselessness’ of the violence, stronger identification with the victim's suffering (i.e. person identification) and stronger identification with his or her violent fate (i.e. position identification). The presence or absence of an opportunity to blame the victim also influenced observers' feelings of anger and pity, and their willingness to protest and help. Importantly, both types of identification helped explain these emotional and behavioural responses. The results of this experiment suggest dual motivations for how observers come to feel and care for victims of ‘senseless’ violence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.