Cognitive biases in blaming the victim

Past research on cognitive biases has demonstrated the existence of a hindsight effect, whereby the receipt of outcome knowledge increases the perceived likelihood of the reported event. Three experiments were conducted that tested and supported the hindsight effect as a cause of victim blaming. Subjects read detailed accounts that were identical except for the concluding sentence, which provided outcome information. Half the subjects in each experiment were informed that the woman narrating the account was raped; the other half read a neutral outcome. Experiment 1 demonstrated that subjects were unable to ignore the influence of outcome knowledge, leading to an exaggerated perception of how likely the outcome appeared. In Experiment 2, the woman was blamed more by subjects who read the rape outcome than by those who read the neutral outcome, despite the presentation of identical behaviors and personality traits prior to outcome information. The increased blame attributed by rape outcome subjects was behavioral, and not characterological, in nature. Experiment 3 found a direct association between the hindsight effect and victim blaming and also demonstrated that an attempt to reduce the negative impact of the hindsight effect on victim blaming was ineffective due to the salience of the rape outcome. Explaining how a neutral outcome was possible given the same account did not reduce victim blaming by subjects who received a rape outcome. Rather, those who received a neutral outcome increased their victim blaming when asked to explain a rape outcome. The implications for victims are discussed.     

The Acquaintance Predicament of a Rape Victim1

The acquaintance predicament of a rape victim was examined in six experiments with between-subjects designs with samples drawn from the undergraduate student population of the University of Bombay. The experiments used rape vignettes for the manipulation of all independent variables except subject's sex and were done in three pairs such that each pair had the same independent variables and first dependent measure, namely, recommended years of imprisonment for the rapist. The second dependent measure was attributed victim's fault in the first experiment and perceived likelihood of rape in the second experiment of each pair. The first pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (acquainted vs. unacquainted rapist) × 3 (rapist's status: manager, stenotypist, or watchman) × 2 (complaint vs. no complaint by victim) design, with the rape victim being described as a stenotypist. The second pair of experiments differed from the first pair in only one respect, with victim's marital status (married vs. divorced victim) replacing the independent variable of complaint of the first pair. The third pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (physically hurt vs. not hurt victim) × 5 (rapist's relationship with victim: husband, fiance, friend, acquaintance, or stranger) design. Female subjects, as compared to male subjects, recommended longer imprisonment for the rapist, attributed less fault to the victim, and perceived greater likelihood of rape. The victim was attributed less fault in case of stranger rape versus acquaintance rape and also less fault in the complaint versus the no complaint condition. Longer imprisonment was recommended for the rapist when the victim was physically hurt rather than not hurt.     

Factors affecting reactions to a rape victim.

We examined the influence of the sex of the subject reacting to the rape victim, the type of rape (stranger vs. acquaintance), the location of the rape (inside vs. outside the victim's home), and the victim's attribution concerning the cause of the rape, on undergraduates' reactions to a rape victim. American undergraduates (264 women, 230 men) read a Rape Crisis Center Intake Form, watched a videotape of a rape victim (an actress) describing her psychological and behavioral reactions to the rape, and completed three questionnaires assessing their reactions to the victim. Women were more supportive of the rape victim than were men, and the stranger rape evoked more chance and characterological attributions than did the acquaintance rape. A rape outside the home evoked more chance attributions than did an "inside" rape. The rape victim was rated as having been more traumatized by the experience if she made any causal attribution than if she made no attribution at all.     

Beliefs About the Causes of Four Types of Rape

Beliefs about the causes of stranger, acquaintance, date, and partner rape and treatment and punishment for the types of rape were examined among college students. Three causes of rape—victim precipitation, male pathology, and male hostility—varied as a function of the type of rape, with female precipitation higher for partner and date rape than for acquaintance and stranger rape. Male hostility and male pathology were lowest for partner rape. These findings suggest that the perceived causes of rape that blame the perpetrator or victim, rather than societal or general causes of rape, vary with the type of rape. Recommended punishment varied directly with the closeness of the relationship. Additionally, gender differences and interactions of gender and ethnicity (Caucasian and Hispanics) were found across type of rape.     

Assessing the effects of factors that might underlie the differential perception of acquaintance and stranger rape

There is evidence to suggest that in an acquaintance rape the victim is perceived less favorably and there is more leniency toward the perpetrator than in a stranger rape. The purpose of the present study was to assess the perceptual effects of factors that might underlie this differential perception. Victim-perpetrator attraction and ambiguity in victim's desire for intercourse were varied since both are often perceived to occur at a much higher frequency in acquaintance rape than stranger rape. The design of the study was a 3 (victim-perpetrator attraction — minimal, moderate, maximal) × 2 (ambiguity in desire for intercourse — ambiguous, relatively unambiguous) × 2 (gender of subject — male, female) factorial. The results indicated that ambiguity had a significant effect on perceptions. More specifically, perception tended to be less favorable toward the victim and more lenient toward the defendant when there was ambiguity in the victim's desire for intercourse. Additionally, when compared to females, males' perception tended to be less favorable toward the victim and more lenient toward the perpetrator. There were no other significant main effects or interactions. The implications of these findings for the differential perception of acquaintance and stranger rape are discussed.     

Differential Male and Female Responses to Inadmissible Sexual History Information Regarding a Rape Victim

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of exposure to sexual activity information regarding a rape victim. The results of the first experiment indicated that men had a greater tendency to attribute a female target person's sexual activity to dispositional causes than did women. In the second experiment, subjects read an acquaintance rape scenario suggesting that the victim had a promiscuous sexual past. They were instructed either to ignore this sexual history information when making judgments (inadmissible condition) or to use whatever information that they felt was appropriate (admissible condition). Control subjects were given no information regarding the victim's sexual past. Thus, the design was a 2 (Sex of Subject) x 3 (Information Admissibility: Admissible, Inadmissible, or Control) factorial. The results indicated: (a) When compared to those in the inadmissible condition, victim perceptions from subjects in the admissible condition were less favorable, (b) victim perceptions from male subjects were less favorable than those from female subjects, and (c) male subjects in the inadmissible condition attributed more responsibility to the victim than did the controls whereas female subjects in the inadmissible condition attributed less responsibility to the victim than did controls. Possible bases of these findings are discussed.     

The Moderating Influence of Homophobia and Gender‐Role Traditionality on Perceptions of Male Rape Victims1

This study investigated the influence of homophobia and gender‐role traditionality (GRT) on perceptions of male rape victims. Victims were assigned more blame in acquaintance rape than in stranger rape, and homosexual victims were blamed more than were heterosexual victims. Homophobia predicted patterns in rape minimization only when the victim was homosexual. Homophobia also predicted patterns of victim blame attribution in both homosexual and heterosexual victims, with a greater impact when the victim was homosexual. GRT predicted patterns of rape minimization in acquaintance rape, but not in stranger rape; and GRT did not predict differences in victim blame attribution.     

Schema‐driven information processing in judgements about rape

Two studies addressed the impact of rape schemata on judgements about rape cases. In Study 1, 286 undergraduate students rated perpetrator and victim blame for five rape scenarios and completed the Perceived Causes of Rape Scale. Most blame was assigned to victims of an ex‐partner rape, followed by acquaintance and stranger rape. Least blame was assigned to perpetrators of ex‐partner rapes, followed by acquaintance and stranger rapes. Female precipitation beliefs increased victim blame and reduced perpetrator blame. In Study 2, 158 students rated rape scenarios that varied in victim perpetrator relationship and coercive strategy and completed a measure of Female Precipitation Beliefs. Half expected to be held accountable for their judgements. The perpetrator was held less liable and the victim blamed more when the perpetrator exploited the victim's incapacitated state versus using physical force. Accountability instruction reduced the impact of female precipitation beliefs on perceived perpetrator liability and victim blame. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rape Perceptions as a Function of Gender-Role Traditionality and Victim-Perpetrator Association

Perceptions of stranger, acquaintance, date, andmarital rape scenarios and their relation to observers'gender-role traditionality were examined. PrimarilyCaucasian (81%)male and female undergraduates reported their reactions to one of four rapescenarios, attitudes toward men's and women's genderroles, and tendency toward a socially desirable responsestyle. The marital rape scenario was characterized less often as rape and considered less violent,less of a violation of the victim's rights and lesspsychologically damaging to the victim as compared tothe other scenarios. Observers holding less traditional gender-role stereotypes perceived rapescenarios overall as more serious and were less likelyto blame the victim. Also, an exploratory regressionanalysis revealed that gender did not add significantly to the prediction of rape perceptions beyondthe contribution of gender-role beliefs.     

Acquaintance versus stranger rape: Testing the ambiguity reduction hypothesis

After reading a vignette about a hypothetical rape incident, 240 undergraduate students of the University of Bombay recommended imprisonment for the rapist and attributed fault to the rape victim. The experiment had a 2 (subject's sex) 2 (schoolteacher versus callgirl victim) × 2 (acquainted versus stranger rapist) × 2 (victim's physical resistance versus no physical resistance) factorial design with 15 subjects per cell. As predicted, attributed victim's fault was greater and recommended rapist's imprisonment was shorter with male rather than female subjects, with the callgirl rather than schoolteacher victim, and with no physical resistance rather than with physical resistance. Greater fault was also attributed to the acquainted rather than unacquainted victim. These main effects and the interaction effects were discussed primarily in light of the proposition that acquaintance rape is viewed less seriously than stranger rape because of ambiguity regarding the acquainted victim's consent.     

Perceptions of an aggressive encounter as a function of the victim's salience and the perceiver's arousal.

Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of a victim's physical salience and perceivers' arousal on perceptions of a verbally aggressive interaction. Based upon evidence that there is a tendency to attribute causality to salient stimulus persons and to form more evaluatively extreme impressions of such persons, it was predicted that an aggressor's behavior would be attributed more to causes in a physically salient than a nonsalient victim and that the behavior of a salient victim would be evaluated more extremely than that of a nonsalient victim. Based upon Easterbrook's hypothesis that arousal narrows the focus of attention to the most salient cues in the situation, it was further predicted that aroused perceivers would manifest both a stronger tendency to attribute causality to a physically salient victim of aggression and more extreme ratings of the stimulus persons than would nonaroused perceivers. The results supported all of the experimental hypotheses except one: The tendency to attribute the aggressor's behavior more to a physically salient than a nonsalient victim was not greater for aroused than for nonaroused perceivers.     

COLLEGE WOMEN'S FEARS AND PRECAUTIONARY BEHAVIORS RELATING TO ACQUAINTANCE RAPE AND STRANGER RAPE

Past research on women's fear of rape has focused on women's fears relating to stranger rape, even though most rapes are acquaintance rapes. In this study, 139 undergraduate women completed a questionnaire concerning their fears, precautionary behaviors, and beliefs relating to acquaintance and stranger rape. Women reported being more fearful of rape by strangers than by acquaintances, and they reported engaging in more precautionary behaviors because of fear of stranger rape than of acquaintance rape. When asked to self-generate situations in which they feared rape, they generated more situations in which they feared stranger rape than acquaintance rape. Paradoxically, they estimated that acquaintance rape was more common. Precautionary behaviors were best predicted by level of fear. A history of acquaintance rape had no effect on women's responses. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.     

Bystander Responses to Risk for Rape Perpetrated by a Friend,Acquaintance, or Stranger

This study explored bystander responses to risk for an alcohol-facilitated rape perpetrated by a friend, acquaintance, or stranger. Undergraduates (N = 331) were randomly assigned to read 1 of 3 scenarios in which an apparently sober male friend, acquaintance, or stranger leads an intoxicated woman into a bedroom. Participants completed self-report measures of intent to directly intervene and barriers to intervention. Compared to men, women reported greater intent to help the potential victim and fewer barriers to intervention. Participant gender moderated the effect of the bystander’s relationship with the potential perpetrator on intent to confront and responsibility to intervene. Men reported more confrontation and more responsibility to intervene when perpetrators were identified as either friends or acquaintances than strangers. In contrast, women reported more confrontation when perpetrators were identified as friends than either strangers or acquaintances. Bystander education programs that address specific barriers to intervening with strangers and acquaintances could promote more frequent bystander behavior.     

Bad Woman, Bad Victim? Disentangling the Effects of Victim Stereotypicality, Gender Stereotypicality and Benevolent Sexism on Acquaintance Rape Victim Blame

Based on the assertion that previous research may have inadvertently confounded two stereotypes, we considered the impact of benevolent sexism on rape victim blame in the context of independent manipulations of gender and the perceived genuineness (victim stereotypicality) of an acquaintance rape victim. We predicted that for blame, benevolent sexism may be independently positively associated with gender and victim counter-stereotypicality. Following pilot work, 120 Australian undergraduates read an acquaintance rape scenario. Results indicated that benevolent sexism was only positively associated with blame of the gender counter-stereotypical victim when that victim was also counter-stereotypical in terms of victim stereotypes. This result indicates a more moderate role than previously indicated for benevolent sexism in accounting for rape victim blame.     

Social reactions to depictions of casual and steady acquaintance rape: The impact of AIDS exposure and stereotypic beliefs about women

While much of the early research on the social perception of sexual assault focused on instances of stranger rape, recent work has indicated that acquaintance rape occurs much more frequently. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine a gender role socialization analysis of acquaintance rape. The subjects in the present investigation, predominately Caucasian-American females (i.e., over 90% were nonminority), were first preclassified as either traditional or nontraditional in their gender role views about women. We then examined their perception of rape victims and rape perpetrators as a function of whether the rape occurred between casual dating partners vs. long-term steady daters, and also as a function of whether the assailant exposed the rape victim to the disease AIDS (vs. no exposure to AIDS). The results indicated that individuals who varied in their stereotypic views about women differed in their reactions, with more traditional subjects being more likely to negatively evaluate the rape victim and less likely to evaluate the rapist in an unfavorable manner. In addition, it was found that when rape victims were exposed to AIDS, the social perceptions of others were strongly influenced, with casual-dating rape acquaintances being more likely to bear the onus of a negative reaction from others.     

To honor and obey: Perceptions and disclosure of sexual assault among honor ideology women

The overwhelming majority of rapes goes unreported. To better understand the sociocultural mechanisms behind why underreporting may occur, three studies (total n = 1,481) examine how women's endorsement of honor values influence the perceptions of rape. Using vignettes that varied the closeness of the perpetrator of a sexual assault (i.e., stranger, acquaintance, or husband), we found that women who endorse honor values of womanhood were less likely to label a forced sexual act as “rape” and to suggest that the victim discloses the rape to others, including to the police. This was especially true the closer the victim was to the perpetrator (e.g., husband vs. stranger). Our findings highlight the effects of honor values on perceived sexual assault and the consequences of disclosure, and may aid in understanding barriers to rape reporting and areas for intervention.

     

Causal and Moral Responsibility of Victims of Rape and Robbery

Four experimental studies of attribution in a criminal situation used a 2⁴ ANOVA design with three common independent variables, namely, type of crime, time of crime, and victim's prior experience of crime, all three manipulated through a passage describing an incident of crime involving a male criminal and a female victim, and one common dependent measure which was length of imprisonment recommended for the criminal. The fourth independent variable was subject's sex in the first two experiments and instructionally manipulated female subject's involvement (objective or identifying female subject) in the last two experiments. The second dependent measure was fault attributed to the victim in the first and third experiments and perceived likelihood of crime in the second and fourth experiments. The subjects were undergraduate students of the University of Bombay, 15 per cell in each experiment. Female subjects were more punitive toward the criminal than male subjects, especially in the case of rape, and the rapist received a longer sentence than the robber, especially from female subjects. Identifying female subjects tended to recommend a longer sentence than objective female subjects. Female subjects attributed less fault to the victim and perceived greater likelihood of crime than male subjects and identifying female subjects attributed somewhat less fault to the victim than did objective female subjects. The robbery victim was attributed more fault than the rape victim. Whereas previous experience of similar victimization increased attributed victim's fault, a late hour enhanced both attributed victim's fault and perceived likelihood of crime. These findings are discussed with respect to a theoretical distinction between causal and moral responsibility as represented by the likellhood and fault measures, respectively.     

Perceptions of rape victims and assailants: Effects of physical attractiveness,acquaintance, and subject gender

Subjects read different versions of a rape case in which the victim was walking alone at night and the defendant was obviously guilty. Female subjects saw the crime as more debilitating for the victim and were more punitive than male subjects. Female subjects considered the victim less responsible when the defendant was unattractive than when the defendant was attractive. Presence or absence of prior casual acquaintance between the victim and assailant interacted with other factors. With prior acquaintance, male subjects considered the victim more responsible than female subjects, unattractive victims were considered more responsible than attractive victims, and unattractive defendants were considered more likely to engage in future antisocial behavior than attractive defendants. Although biased by other factors, level of victim blame was low overall. Yet subjects seemed reluctant to believe the rapist and his victim were unacquainted and seemed to consider the rape as sexually, rather than aggressively, motivated.The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of Andrea R. Halpern and T. Joel Wade. Portions of this paper were presented at the meetings of the Eastern Psychological Association, Buffalo, New York, April 1988.