Attribution theory and rape victim responsibility

The topic of rape victimization emerged in the last decade as an important social problem. Using a sample of medical students, this paper attempts to unravel the attribution of responsibility imputed to the victim of rape. Victim characteristics were varied by using vignettes in order to create an “ideal” and a “non‐ideal” rape victim.

A testing of the attribution models of the just world and defensive attribution found that respondents assigned low levels of culpability to both victim types. Additionally, sex differences in perceptions of victim responsibility were found, with females according both victim types less blame than did males. Thus, partial support was found for the defensive attribution model.     

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.     

Effects of rape victim resistance, assault outcome, and sex of observer on attributions about rape

Perceptions of sexual assault were investigated as a function of sex of observer, nature of victim resistance, and assault outcome. Two hundred twenty-nine subjects were randomly assigned by sex to six resistance x outcome conditions. Hypotheses that women and men apply sex-role stereotypes in evaluating the rape situation were supported: (a) subjects were more certain that rape had occurred as the victim resisted more; (b) subjects attributed greater responsibility to the victim for completed that for attempted rape, while the reverse pattern was found for the assailant; (c) women attributed more responsibility to the assailant than did men; and (d) men attributed less fault and more intelligence, and women attributed more fault and less intelligence to the rape victim as she resisted more forcefully. Attributional terms; fault, blame, and responsibility were found not to be interchangeable. Rape attributions are discussed within the contexts of identification with victim's situation and perceptions of victim's control. Implications for choice of self-defense strategy and treatment of rape victims are also considered.     

Attribution of responsibility for rape: The influence of observer empathy,victim resistance,and victim attractiveness

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of a rape victim's physical attractiveness and resistance to rape on subjects' attributions of responsibility for the crime, certainty of the defendant's guilt, and social perceptions of the rape victim and defendant. Subjects' pretrial empathy toward rape victims and rapists was assessed by scores on the Rape Empathy Scale (RES). In addition to significant sex differences in attributions of responsibility for the incident, subjects' pretrial empathy toward rape victims and rapists was predictive of their perceptions of the rape victim, the defendant, and the rape incident. Victim resistance and attractiveness effects were significant in that subjects responded least favorably to the unattractive rape victim, particularly when she resisted the rape by fighting with her attacker. Male subjects and subjects who exhibited low empathy toward the rape victim were more responsive to subtle manipulations of victim resistance and attractiveness than were females and high RES subjects. Several explanations for these results focus on the cognitive and affective responses of subjects. The implications of the study are discussed in relation to societal attitudes toward rape and the role of sexrole stereotyping, which fosters these attitudes.The present research was supported by National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research Support Grant #5-SO7-RRO7127-09 and National Science Foundation Grant #SES-8012316 to Sheila R. Deitz. The authors express their appreciation to Nancy Williams, Joanne Moran, Bill Willging, David Small, David Waldman, and Robert Kingsley for their assistance in data collection and analysis.Correspondence should be sent to Sheila R. Deitz, now at Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy, University of Virginia, Box 100, Blue Ridge Hospital, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901. Copies of the Rape Empathy Scale and an extended report on the reliability and validity of scale are available from this author.     

Confidentiality and the rape victim: ethical intent versus political reality

...The clinician who works with the victim of rape, either in hospital emergency departments, community mental health settings, college environments, or private practice, should consider ways that would effect the many overdue reforms for which this specialty cries out. The need for sensitivity in the area of record keeping, particularly as to how such records might be used, can hardly be debated. Beyond this, there is the role of patient advocate, calling upon the clinician to serve an educative function with reference to the members of his profession and of the larger society. Confidentiality of patient records can be preserved only to the extent that the cultural context in which they exist values such privacy.     

Perceptions of stranger and acquaintance rape: the role of benevolent and hostile sexism in victim blame and rape proclivity

In Studies 1 and 2, after reading an acquaintance-rape but not a stranger-rape scenario, higher benevolent sexist but not hostile sexist participants blamed the victim significantly more. In Study 2, higher hostile sexist but not benevolent sexist male participants showed significantly greater proclivity to commit acquaintance (but not stranger) rape. Studies 3 and 4 supported the hypothesis that the effects of benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are mediated by different perceptions of the victim, as behaving inappropriately and as really wanting sex with the rapist. These findings show that benevolent sexism and hostile sexism underpin different assumptions about women that generate sexist reactions toward rape victims.     

Role and justice considerations in the attribution of responsibility to a rape victim

This study was designed to assess the extent to which social role and “just world” considerations would affect perceptions and attributions of responsibility to a rape victim. The rape victim was either a topless-bottomless dancer, a social worker, or a Catholic nun, and she was either acquainted or unacquainted with her assailant. In the acquainted condition, the dancer was attributed the greatest and the nun the least amount of responsibility, indicating that social role factors can govern the range of attributional judgments which might be made in any given instance. However, unacquainted victims were ascribed more responsibility for the rape than were acquainted victims, a difference which was significant when the victim was the nun. The latter findings are discussed in terms of Lerner's just world hypothesis. Significant sex differences were found in subjects' perceptions of and responses to the rape incident and, contrary to earlier findings, no relationship was found between victim attractiveness and punitiveness toward the wrongdoer.     

Supportive and unsupportive responses of others to rape victims: Effects on concurrent victim adjustment

Evaluated the impact that actions of significant others have on adjustment following rape. Significant other behavior is conceptualized as having two dimensions--supportive behavior and unsupportive behavior--and each dimension was measured using multiple items. Unsupportive behavior, but not supportive behavior, was found to bear a significant association to victim adjustment. Implications for those who work with victims are discussed.     

Attribution of blame in rape cases: A review of the impact of rape myth acceptance,gender role conformity and substance use on victim blaming

This article reviews research literature examining the effects of key factors that influence individual's attitudes towards victims of rape. The impact of rape myths, gender roles and substance use on attributions of blame in cases of rape are discussed. The phenomenon of victim-blaming within such cases is explored with reference to the attribution theory to help explain why rape victims are sometimes seen as deserving of their misfortune. Findings indicate that men demonstrate higher rape myth acceptance than women and attribute higher levels of blame to victims than women; women who violate traditional gender roles are attributed more blame than those women who do not; and women who consume alcohol prior to their attack are attributed higher levels of blame than those who are not intoxicated. The findings are discussed with reference to the implications for the Criminal Justice System and future interventions for both victims and perpetrators of rape.     

The effect of sex role stereotype,victim and defendant race,and prior relationship on rape culpability attributions

The research addressed the influence of sex role stereotypes, victim and defendant's race, and the participants' relationship on perceptions of rape culpability by white respondents. Those who held traditional sex role stereotypes believed a rape victim to be more culpable than those with egalitarian stereotypes. In addition, respondents with traditional stereotypes perceived the defendant to be less culpable and less likely to commit a similar offense. Traditional stereotypes may contribute to a more stringent criteria for deciding that rape has occurred. Overall, respondents showed a bias against black rape victims and victims who had dated a black defendant. Rape defendants who had dated a black female were considered to be less likely to commit a similar act in future; thus, the propensity to rape was considered situationally specific.Appreciation is extended to Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Nyla Branscombe, Mark Barnett, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Data was collected at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.     

The moderating role of ambivalent sexism: the influence of power status on perception of rape victim and rapist

The authors examined the effect of ambivalent sexism on others' perceptions of alleged-rape incidents, in which there are socioeconomic status differences between the victims and their perpetrators. The dependent variables included measures of minimizing rape, blaming the victim, excusing the perpetrator, and determining the length of the recommended sentence. The results indicated 4 noteworthy findings: First, individuals who scored high on the hostile power relation (HPR) measure tended to minimize the seriousness of rape incidents. Second, the HPR measure moderated victim blame only in the powerful-man scenario. Third, participants who scored high on the HPR measure tended to believe that the alleged rapist held less responsibility. Fourth, female participants tended to give longer sentences.     

Effects of sex of defense attorney,sex of juror,and age and attractiveness of the victim on mock juror decision making in a rape case

In an experimental study, mock jurors heard a 50-minute audiotape of a rape trial and saw pictures of the victim and defendant. The factors in the design were sex of the defense attorney, age of the victim (early 20s or 60s), attractiveness of the victim, and sex of the juror. The most striking finding was a higher acquittal rate under the female defense attorney condition (71%) than under the male defense attorney condition (49%). This may be an instance of the recently described “talking platypus” phenomenon. Main effects for juror's sex, age of the victim, and attractiveness of the victim were not significant, but these factors showed complex interactions. Internal-external scores did not predict decisions. The most frequent reasons given for acquittals were reasonable doubt and the victim's not resisting.     

Women and rape

The author examines biblical law regarding rape and ultimately the value of women. She also points to the way in which Jesus dealt with women as an indication of his regard for their personhood. Successful evaluation and counseling of a rape victim requires the acknowledgement of the specific needs of the woman and essentially her basic identity as a woman and her role perception in our society.Ms. Bailey is a full time therapist on the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit of University/Louisville General Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. She also works in crisis intervention in the emergency room and is a volunteer advocate for the Louisville Rape Relief Center. Ms. Bailey provides supervision for graduate students from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Social Work Department and is actively interested in pastoral care.     

Identification with the victim

Identification with the victim is a sadomasochistic compromise formation which defends against feared or forbidden destructive-libidinal wishes as it simultaneously gratifies and punishes one for having such wishes. The process involves doing to oneself what one would do to others (or, alternately, inviting or letting others do to oneself what one would do to them). People with certain symptomatic and characterologic traits seem especially prone to this. It is hypothesized, however, that identification with the victim is an essential component of all masochism, including the normal masochism of normal superegos, and is therefore ubiquitous.     

The relationship of hypercompetitiveness and gender roles with body dysmorphic disorder symptoms in a nonclinical sample

This study examined whether hypercompetitiveness was a moderator between body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) symptoms and gender roles in 345 college students. To test this, the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Examination-Self Report (BDDE-SR), the Hypercompetitive Attitude Scale, and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) were used. Significant positive correlations were found between BDD symptoms and hypercompetitiveness in men and women. For men and women, no significant correlation was found between female-valued items on the PAQ and the BDDE-SR. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between male-valued items on the PAQ and the BDDE-SR for both genders. Hypercompetitiveness, however, was found not to be a moderator between BDD symptoms and gender roles.     

The effect of rape type and information admissibility on perceptions of rape victims

Sex Roles - An experiment was conducted to assess whether the judgmental effects of inadmissible evidence would vary as a function of type of rape. Subjects (predominantly Caucasian) read rape...