Fake Victims

Over the summer, I ran across a fascinating article by writer Rob Henderson called “Victim Signaling and Dark Triad Personality Traits.” In this article, Dr. Henderson discusses a study which found that people who score highly in Dark Triad personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) are more likely to speak and act in ways that made them seem like victims (also known as “victim signaling”), whereas those who score highly in Honesty-Humility personality traits were far less likely to. The research also found that victim signalers were more likely to cheat in a coin-flip game. 

I highly recommend you read the whole article, but, in summary, Dr. Henderson argues that, “The inverse relationship between Honesty-Humility and victim signaling suggests that victim signalers may be greedier, less honest, and more exploitative than those who do not signal victimhood.” 

This article acted as a very sobering warning to me. The modern era in general and Christianity in particular has a massive emphasis on caring for the poor, needy and victimized. This is a good thing; however, it leaves us vulnerable to manipulation by Dark Triad personalities, who are likely to act victimized in order to receive status and favors. As may be expected, Dark Triad types are attention seekers, but can often come across as likable (see “Dark Triad” in Psychology Today). Research has shown that women find that a man is more attractive if he has Dark Triad traits (Henderson talks about this in his article). 

It is worth noting that Dark personality traits exist on a scale, and that I am convinced that it is perfectly possible for someone who scores highly on the Dark Triad to choose to be a good, kind and honest person. However, just as some people have a disposition towards alcohol abuse, there exist people who are disposed towards manipulation, and are quite good at it.

  I think most of us want to believe that people are fundamentally good and honest. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The existence of victim signalers presents a conundrum: how do we properly distinguish between those who have been truly victimized, and those who are only pretending? The research implies that those who are attention seeking and narcissistic are more likely to receive the “benefits” of being a victim (i.e., favors, social status and resources) than those who are honest, for the simple fact that those who score highly on Dark Triad traits are more likely to practice victim signaling. Now, obviously, someone who has Dark Triad personality traits can be legitimately victimized; however, they are more likely to either exaggerate or simply lie, and, in doing so, they can pull resources away from those who genuinely need them. 

There is a strain of Christianity that says, whenever someone asks you for something, you should give it to them. However, in this world resources are limited, and giving victim signalers what they want creates incentives for them to keep demanding more and more in “compensation” for their “suffering.” It also teaches people to never try to move on from their suffering and victimization; if you can get anything you want just by claiming victim status, why would you ever stop? There are simply too many real victims in the world for us to waste our energy on those who are merely pretending. There is no use giving to the needy if those we give to are not, in fact, needy.