Effects of Victim Gender and Sexuality on Attributions of Blame to Rape Victims

Previous research suggests that homosexual male rape victims receive more blame than heterosexual victims. In this study, we examined effects of victim gender and sexuality on judgments of victims of stranger rape by a male perpetrator. Participants read a rape vignette in which victim gender and sexuality varied, and then rated the amount of blame they attributed to the perpetrator and victim. Victims were attributed more blame if their sexual orientation suggested potential attraction to the perpetrator: gay men and heterosexual women received more blame than did lesbians and heterosexual men. Further, homophobic attitudes toward gay male victims increased the blame attributed to them: perpetrators of rape of gay men were seen as least responsible for their actions, and the character of gay male victims was seen to be a stronger contributory factor than it was for other victims.     

Power and Gender Influences on Responsibility Attributions: The Case of Disagreements in Relationships

Abstract

In a sample of 156 college students (74 men and 82 women), the authors examined the influences of power status and gender on responsibility attributions and resolution choices during disagreements in personal relationships. The participants read vignettes in which relationship partners disagreed; then the participants placed themselves in the situations depicted and reported their perceived responsibility and resolution choices. The participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 power-status conditions (you have/your partner has greater power in the situation). Power status was based on resource power (i.e., a monetary inheritance) or on perceived power (i.e., financial knowledge). The authors tested 2 alternative power-status hypotheses (justified benefits/rights and ability/accountability) and 1 gender hypothesis. The results supported both power-status hypotheses. In addition, the men's and the women's responsibility attributions and resolution choices (i.e., adhering to their own wishes or deferring to their partner's wishes) revealed differential dependence on the type of power held by the person with greater situational power. The authors suggest issues further research concerning how situational differences in socially based expectations (e.g., power status and gender) may affect conflicts within relationships.     

Gender Versus Gender Role in Attributions of Blame for a Sexual Assault1

To examine whether gender differences in attributions of blame for a sexual assault are a result of gender differences in identification with members of their own gender or identification with gender roles (men identifying with the powerful assailant and women with the less powerful victim), women (n = 177) and men (n = 128) made attributions of blame for an assault in which the assailant's gender and the victim's gender were factorially manipulated. Regardless of the gender of the assailant and victim, women identified more with the victim, while men identified more with the assailant. Consistent with a modified defensive attribution hypothesis, women blamed the assailant more than did men; however, no significant effects were found for victim blame.     

Perpetrator Responses to Victim Confrontation: DARVO and Victim Self-Blame

Perpetrators of violence often use a strategy of Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender (DARVO) to confuse and silence their victims. Although some previous research has examined the individual elements of DARVO, this is the first study to directly examine DARVO as a unitary concept and to investigate how it relates to feelings of self-blame among victims. Subsequently, 138 undergraduate students were asked to report on a time they confronted an individual over a wrong-doing. DARVO was assessed with a new measure constructed for this study. Analyses revealed that: (1) DARVO was commonly used by individuals who were confronted; (2) women were more likely to be exposed to DARVO than men during confrontations; (3) the three components of DARVO were positively correlated, supporting the theoretical construction of DARVO; and (4) higher levels of exposure to DARVO during a confrontation were associated with increased perceptions of self-blame among the confronters. These results provide evidence for the existence of DARVO as a perpetrator strategy and establish a relationship between DARVO exposure and feelings of self-blame. Exploring DARVO aids in understanding how perpetrators are able to enforce victims’ silence through the mechanism of self-blame.     

Sexual Preference,Gender, and Blame Attributions in Adolescent Sexual Assault

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the impact of victim sexual orientation, perpetrator gender, and participant gender on judgements toward a 15-year-old male victim of a depicted sexual assault. One hundred and eight-eight participants (97 male, 91 female) read a hypothetical scenario depicting the sexual assault of a 15-year-old male victim where the victim's sexual orientation and the perpetrator's gender were varied between subjects. Participants then completed a questionnaire assessing their attributions toward both the victim and the perpetrator. Results revealed that male participants blamed the victim more than female participants when the victim was both gay and attacked by a male perpetrator. All participants, regardless of gender, made more positive judgements toward the female as opposed to male perpetrator. Results are discussed in relation to gender role stereotypes and homophobia.     

Effects of Race and Victim Drinking on Domestic Violence Attributions

This research examines the mutual influence of race and victim drinking on college students' domestic violence attributions. Participants were 200, predominately White, middle-class college students. They read a vignette depicting a domestic violence incident. Manipulated within the vignette were batterer race, victim race, and victim drinking. After reading the vignette, participants completed a questionnaire concerning their perceptions of the domestic assault. Results indicate batterers in interracial relationships are attributed more guilt than batterers in same-race relationships. In addition, when domestic violence victims drink alcoholic beverages before a domestic assault, more responsibility for the assault is attributed to Black victims than to their White counterparts. Furthermore, domestic violence victims who drink alcohol are ascribed more blame and derogation in comparison to abstinent domestic violence victims. We examine these findings in relation to stereotypes and gender-role violations. Implications for actors involved in domestic violence are also discussed.     

Victim Blaming in Rape: Effects of Victim and Perpetrator Race, Type of Rape, and Participant Racism

Stereotypes about Black sexuality fostered hypotheses that racial factors and racism influence rape victim blaming. Predominantly White and Asian college students (170 men, 162 women) completed the Modern Racism Scale and evaluated a rape vignette varying victim race, perpetrator race, and rape type. As predicted, racial factors determined victim blaming. Compared to intraracial rapes, interracial rapes were less uniformly judged as "definitely rape" and were judged as having more culpable and less credible victims, and less culpable perpetrators. For men, racism scores positively predicted victim blaming in all rapes. For women, racism scores moderated victim blaming in interracial acquaintance rapes. In our conclusions, we emphasize the durability of racial stereotypes about rape and their influence on discriminatory adjudication outcomes.     

Alcohol and Acquaintance Rape in Australia: Testing the Presupposition Model of Attributions About Responsibility and Blame1

According to the presupposition model of attributions about responsibility and blame (Bradbury & Fincham, 1990), an attribution of blame presupposes an attribution of responsibility. Both constructs share the dimensions of choice, intention, and accountability, but an additional dimension of liability relates only to blame. Reactions of 260 university students to acquaintance‐rape scenarios portraying different levels of alcohol intoxication were examined. Results showed that the model's dimensions explained much of the variance in attributions of responsibility and blame, although the hierarchical structure was not supported. Mediational analyses suggest that different attributional principles apply when assigning victim and perpetrator responsibility, which may explain why intoxicated victims are assigned more responsibility than sober victims, but intoxicated perpetrators are assigned less responsibility than sober perpetrators.     

Predictors of Rape Occurrence and Victim Blame in the William Kennedy Smith Case

In an attempt to understand the bases of rape attributions in the well-publicized accusation of rape against William Kennedy Smith in 1991, background and attitudinal variables were used to predict 277 college students' beliefs that a rape had occurred, and their extent of victim blame prior to his rape trial. Gender differences were found in the belief that a rape had occurred and in victim blame, but were no longer significant when combined with other predictors in a regression equation. Among women, no significant predictors of rape occurrence emerged, whereas for men, political affiliation (Democrats more than Republicans) and ethnicity (people of color more than whites) predicted the belief that a rape had occurred. Belief in victim precipitation of rape strongly predicted victim blame in the Smith case. These findings reinforce the significance of victim-precipitation beliefs in blaming date-rape victims and the probable role of these myths in keeping date rape a hidden crime.     

Victim and Observer Characteristics as Determinants of Responsibility Attributions to Victims of Rape1

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.     

Predicting Rape Empathy Based on Victim, Perpetrator, and Participant Gender, and History of Sexual Aggression

This study examined empathy for a hypothetical rape victim and perpetrator based on gender of victim, perpetrator and participant, and sexual aggression experience. Undergraduates (n?=?591, 333 female) from a United States east coast mid-size public university completed the Rape Victim and Perpetrator Empathy Scales (victim and perpetrator gender experimentally varied), and the Sexual Experiences Survey. Hypotheses were partially supported. Empathy was greater with the victim of a man than a woman. Women with victimization experience were especially empathic with a female victim. Men without victimization experience were relatively non-empathic with a male victim. Empathy was greater with a female than a male perpetrator, especially when her victim was male or when reported by women. A male rapist received the greatest empathy from men with perpetration experience. Findings are consistent with cultural expectations that women are victims and men are aggressors, and may imply that similarity in experience can facilitate rape empathy.     

The Effects of Gender and Measurement Strategy on Causal Attributions for Infertility

Investigators of causal attributions for threatening events have typically studied either male or female samples and have interchangeably used two methods of assessing attributions. To examine the effect of gender and measurement strategy on causal attributions, we interviewed 31 men and 33 women with impaired fertility. Causal attributions were measured using open-ended questions, as well as by asking participants to rate the influence of five specific causes. The results of a multitrait-multimethod matrix revealed only modest convergence between measurement methods. As predicted, both method and gender influenced causal attributions. Women were more likely to attribute the infertility to their behavior. Causal attributions were related to psychological symptoms, but differentially depending on how attributions were measured.     

Blame Conformity: Leading Eyewitness Statements can Influence Attributions of Blame for an Accident

The present experiment examined whether attributions of blame for an incident can be shifted between individuals as a result of a leading eyewitness statement. Participants watched a video of an accident involving two men and then read either a non‐leading eyewitness statement that blamed no one for the accident or a leading eyewitness statement that blamed one of the two men for the accident. Participants' attributions of blame for the accident were then assessed either immediately or after a 1 week delay. Regardless of the time delay, just over one‐third of participants who read a leading statement subsequently blamed the same person as the eyewitness. In contrast, less than 4% of participants who read a non‐leading statement blamed one of the men. This research is the first to demonstrate blame conformity, where blame for an incident can be shifted between individuals as a result of a leading eyewitness statement. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interpersonal Judgments: Moral Responsibility and Blame

A deterministic perspective, believing choices are a function of hereditary and environmental factors, could theoretically impact perceived moral responsibility and lead to decreased blame in judging others. However, little consistent support has been found relating individual differences in deterministic attitudes to blame/tolerance for others. Perhaps, though, providing information regarding past background hardships affecting an individual's current lifestyle could potentially mediate harsh moralistic judgments of that individual. In the two studies reported here, we further explored the relation of free will/determinism scales to attitudes toward others as well as the effect of manipulating background information on the assignment of blame. As in previous research, little support was found for the relation of deterministic attitudes to tolerance toward others. However, judgments following manipulated information about hypothetical target persons supported the conclusion that target individuals are blamed less and given more sympathy if more information related to previous hardships is provided. In addition, in the second study perceived similarity to a target individual was associated with decreased blame/greater sympathy for a target with alcohol abuse problems.     

The Impact of Roles and Frames on Attributions of Responsibility: The Case of Cold War Human Radiation Experiments1

The phrase Cold War human radiation experiments has been used by the media to categorize a broad range of research programs involving radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War era. The present study uses vignettes based on 3 widely disseminated “horror stories” used by the media to frame the radiation experiments as deviant. Both the role of the actor (autonomous or obedient) and the media frame (sensational, counter claim, or control) were manipulated in the vignettes for the purpose of testing their independent effects on attributions of responsibility. Data were collected from 337 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory sociology courses to examine whether role, frame, or both shaped respondents’ attributions of responsibility to the individual or organization involved in the experiments. Results indicate that role has a significant effect on how individuals attribute responsibility, but media frames do not.     

Gender,Attributions of Responsibility,and Negotiation of Deviant Labels in Small Groups

Incorporating both attribution and labeling theory, this article examines the negotiation of deviant labels in small groups, with emphasis on how that process is influenced by attributions of responsibility and the gender of group members. Pressures associated with goal-directed groups make deviant labeling and resistance a common occurrence, especially when the actions of members significantly interfere with group goals or normative expectations. Findings based on the analysis of narrative responses to vignettes demonstrate the prevalence and importance of accounts and conciliatory actions for mitigating group conflict and avoiding negative outcomes. Calling problematic members into account while avoiding hostile undertones effectively initiates dialogue and facilitates the negotiation of group strategies for completing tasks. However, the data also suggest that while deviant group members frequently offer accounts for objectionable behavior, such accounts are rarely honored by conforming members. The results also support previous work showing that women are more likely than men to use calls for accounts to seek mutually satisfactory solutions to group problems. In addition to accounts and conciliatory gestures, displays of interpersonal hostility and the formation of coalitions against the deviant were also found to be consequential elements of the deviance negotiation process.     

The Nurturing Stance: Making Sense of Responsibility without Blame

Mental health‐care clinicians report that they hold patients responsible for morally objectionable behaviour but at the same time consider blaming attitudes to be inappropriate. These practices present a conundrum for all Strawsonian theories of responsibility. In response to this conundrum, Pickard has proposed severing the Strawsonian connection between being responsible and being an appropriate target of blaming attitudes. In this article I will argue that her solution fails to explain the practices at stake and provide an alternative solution that uncovers an under‐theorized stance we take towards those whose abilities are underdeveloped or compromised.