Immodest victims: Victims who broadcast their victimization are seen as less morally virtuous

How do people evaluate victims who advertise their victim status? Because such broadcasting can elicit sympathy and support, we propose that declining to broadcast serves as a costly act of modesty: one is withholding a fact about oneself that could garner resources and benefits. We suggest that individuals who are less demanding are more willing to forego these benefits, such that broadcasting victimization serves as a signal of demandingness that can carry reputation costs. Across seven primary studies and one supplementary study (total n = 6,360), we find that people who broadcast (versus “bury”, i.e., decline to advertise) their victim status are perceived as less modest, more demanding, and less moral and desirable interaction partners. Broadcasting carries reputation costs even when it can function to alert others of an ongoing threat (Study 2) and when broadcasting would elicit sympathy (Studies 3a-b). However, we find some evidence that the reputation costs are mitigated when broadcasting is directed at fewer, closer ties (versus a broader audience) (Study 4). Finally, we ask whether the reputation consequences of broadcasting versus burying are attenuated in contexts where broadcasting is a less informative signal of demandingness. Interestingly, participants do not see broadcasting as a less informative signal of demandingness when victimization is more “discoverable” (i.e., observable to others absent broadcasting) (Study 5). Yet the reputation costs of broadcasting (versus burying) indeed decline when participants receive direct information about a victim’s level of demandingness, suggesting that attributions of demandingness underlie these reputation costs (Study 6).