Cognitive Psychologist: Break Free from a Victim Mindset | Scott Barry Kaufman
Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais
Dr. Michael Gervais
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2025
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if the greatest obstacle to reaching your potential isn't external barriers, but a mindset in which you see yourself as a victim?
Today, I’m stoked to welcome back my good friend and one of my favorite thinkers, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman. This is Scott’s third time on the podcast, and he always delivers. Scott is a humanistic psychologist, bestselling author, and host of The Psychology Podcast. His new book Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential dives deep into what it means to move through suffering with both self-awareness and strength.
In this conversation, we talk about the difference between victimization and a victim mindset, how subtle thought patterns like hostile attribution bias or over-personalization can limit growth, and why a mindset rooted in empowerment is the key to self-actualization.
As you listen, reflect on your own internal narratives…. Maybe even the core triggers for when you tend to blame, deflect, or shrink back when things get hard? How might a shift toward a more powerful mindset — toward a deeper trust in yourself — change how you respond to life’s challenges?
Please enjoy this powerful conversation with my friend, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman.
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Transcript
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| 1:28.5 | A victim mindset is one where you blame all of your problems on external circumstances. |
| 1:33.6 | You don't take any responsibility for how you respond to situations. |
| 1:37.4 | And you devote most of your life to attempts to punish or get back at people who you feel |
| 1:43.4 | have wronged you without actually creating |
| 1:45.7 | constructive ways of moving forward with hope and purpose in your own life. |
| 1:52.5 | What if the greatest obstacle to you reaching your potential isn't external barriers, |
| 1:57.8 | but a mindset in which you see yourself as a victim. People with a victim |
| 2:02.5 | mindset will take neutral responses to them as aggressive without really caring for the facts |
| 2:08.4 | of the matter. If you smile at someone and they just don't smile back, chances are they have nothing |
| 2:13.1 | against you. You're not even on their radar at that moment. Do you know what I mean? Welcome back. |
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