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Victim and Observer Characteristics as Determinants of Responsibility Attributions to Victims of Rape 1
Author(s) -
Krahé Barbara
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1988.tb00004.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , conceptualization , social psychology , mythology , social responsibility , observer (physics) , philosophy , theology , artificial intelligence , computer science , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
Two field studies were conducted to investigate the influence of observer and victim characteristics on attributions of victim and assailant responsibility in a rape case. In the first study, male and female subjects completed a measure of rape myth acceptance and were presented with a rape account after which they were asked to attribute responsibility to victim and assailant. In the second study, a new sample was asked to attribute responsibility to victim and assailant on the basis of one of two rape accounts in which victim's pre‐rape behavior was manipulated. Results showed that both rape myth acceptance and victims' pre‐rape behavior influenced the degree of responsibility attributed to victims and assailants. No significant effects of subject gender were found. A more complex conceptualization is suggested of the link between observer and victim characteristics in social reactions to and evaluations of rape victims.