Perceiving Violence: The Influence of Motivational Status and Environmental Setting

Previous studies examining perceptions of violence within a public house context have shown that the presence of door control (bouncers), interior tidiness, and the actions of the victim play an important role in shaping judgments of the aggressor and the victim (Lawrence & Leather, 1999; Leather & Lawrence, 1995). However, the extent to which individuals belonging to the same group as the victim make similar patterns of judgments to those recruited from a different group has not been investigated. This paper reports the findings of a study in which the perceptions of 80 licensees (same group as victim) and 80 undergraduate students (different group from victim) are compared after exposure to an account of a violent incident. Also manipulated were environmental variables (presence of door control and interior tidiness) and the actions of the victim. Results support the JWH, whereby the victim is blamed more by those from the same group than by those from a different group. Results are discussed in light of defensive attributions and the JWH and highlight the importance of taking environmental information into account in studies of social cognition.