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Social Influence and Crime‐Victim Decision Making
Author(s) -
Ruback R. Barry,
Greenberg Martin S.,
Westcott David R.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01082.x
Subject(s) - socioemotional selectivity theory , seriousness , normative , affect (linguistics) , psychology , social psychology , event (particle physics) , criminology , political science , developmental psychology , law , communication , quantum mechanics , physics
Other people can affect a crime‐victim's decision to notify the police in at least four different ways: (a) by cuing the victim to a particular “script” or particular actions within a script, (b) by providing arguments and advice, (c) by indicating what normative standards operate within some group important to the victim, and (d) by providing socioemotional support or nonsupport. These four functions others serve can operate when the victim is labeling an event as a crime, when the victim is determining its seriousness, and when the victim is deciding what to do about it. This paper discusses these four functions in terms of relevant theoretical and empirical work.