GRATITUDE IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIETAL STIGMA: CONFORMITY TO NORMS OF ONLINE FRAUD VICTIM-BLAMING

Abstract

Previous work has identified two functions of gratitude: the prosocial function, according to which gratitude tended to promote prosocial behaviours, and the social alignment function, according to which gratitude tended to promote conformity to social norms. This paper aims to contrast these two functions against each other to determine which would be more dominant within a social context characterised by strong stigmatising norms: specifically that of online fraud victims. A 3 (emotions: gratitude, neutral, joy) × 2 (norms: blame, sympathy) between-subjects experiment was conducted. Victim-blaming was assessed as the dependent variable. Results indicated that the manipulated norms induced conformity only among grateful participants but not neutral or joyful controls, supporting the social alignment hypothesis. Furthermore, grateful participants expressed higher victim-blaming in the blame norm condition, but were not more sympathetic in the sympathy norm condition which was misaligned with the pre-existing societal context of stigmatising online fraud victims, thus suggesting that gratitude induces conformity only to norms that are perceived as reflective of society. Overall, results suggest that the social alignment function of gratitude may be more dominant than the prosocial function, such that gratitude would not result in prosocial perceptions or behaviours when they were not perceived as normative.