“We are the most corrupt country”: Brazilian inferiority complex and corruption

The "Complexo de Vira-Lata" (CVL) is a unique, special, and extreme form of ingroup bias in which Brazilians behave as if they want to antithetically devalue their national ingroup. In this research, we investigate how the CVL contributes to understanding corruption perception among Brazilians. Across two studies (Study 1: <i>n</i> = 162; Study 2: <i>n</i> = 1200), we found that participants showed a CVL effect by consistently perceiving Brazil as more corrupt than European (Studies 1 and 2) and African countries (Study 2). Moreover, this effect was enhanced in participants who endorsed the "Brazilian <i>jeitinho</i>" (a behavioral strategy often used for social navigation) and diminished in participants with stronger national identification. These results suggest that CVL is relevant for understanding perceptions of corruption in Brazil.