Cheap shots: victim blaming in the context of COVID-19

The present research tested whether people engage in more victim blaming toward unvaccinated COVID-19 victims than toward vaccinated COVID-19 victims. In two experiments (total N = 799), participants were randomly assigned to read one of two fictitious vignettes about an unvaccinated COVID-19 victim or a vaccinated COVID-19 victim. Both experiments found that participants attributed more blame and free will to the unvaccinated COVID-19 victim than to the vaccinated COVID-19 victim. Moreover, Experiment 2 found that free will attributions mediated the effect of victim vaccination status on victim blaming. Both experiments also found that participants with stronger liberal attitudes attributed more blame to the unvaccinated COVID-19 victim, but less blame to the vaccinated COVID-19 victim, than participants with stronger conservative attitudes. These relations remained significant while controlling for just world beliefs and participant vaccination status. The present research suggests that, compared to vaccinated COVID-19 victims, people believe that unvaccinated COVID-19 victims could have done otherwise—that is, they could have chosen to get vaccinated. The present research also suggests that liberals and conservatives differentially engage in victim blaming to corroborate their partisan attitudes.