Typecasting Others and Self As Villain or Victim Can Hurt Relationships

This question from a patient may strike a chord with those who have felt wounded in relationship (which, of course, is all of us). When we feel hurt by others, our brains don’t simply process the pain — they become casting directors, auditioning people for the two starring roles: the blameless victim and the heartless villain. Social scientists call this “moral typecasting.”

Most people will be familiar with the idea of typecasting in the entertainment industry. If you were to see actor Daniel Radcliffe on the street, your brain would shout, “Harry Potter!” As Kurt Gray, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of “Outraged,” explained it to me: “Morality is the same way, except instead of wizards, we see someone as either just a villain or just a victim.”

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