| dc.description.abstract | Acquaintance rape has been considered society's "hidden crime", often being seen as
wrong, but not criminal (Bechhofer & Parrot, 1991). In comparison to other violent
crimes, rape has the highest rate of acquittal and the lowest rate of conviction (Weiner &
Vodanovich, 1986). In many instances victims of rape are held accountable for their
victimization (Abbey, 1987). This study investigated the cognitive processes involved in
the development of rape judgments and sanctioning decisions. Cognitive structures, namely
observer attitudes (rape myth acceptance, sex-role beliefs, hostility towards women), were
found to have a mediating role between ambiguous information and the development of
inferences (regarding the victim and offender). In mm, the mediational relationship between
inferences and consequent rape judgments (perception of rape, victim and offender
responsibility and blame) was established. Sanctioning judgments (conviction and
punishments) were found to succeed rape judgments. Individuals who had more
conventional attitudes (higher rape myth acceptance, traditional sex-role beliefs, more
hostility towards women) tended to develop less negative offender inferences (e.g.,
perceived him as less violent), and more negative victim inferences (e.g., perceived her as
more desiring of sex). In turn, they also tended to attribute more responsibility to the
victim, and were more reluctant to identify the situation as "rape". Furthermore, these
individuals were less willing to convict, and assigned less punishment to the offender. The
inverse pattern of inference development, and rape and sanctioning judgments was found
for those with more progressive attitudes (less rape myth acceptance, more egalitarian sex-role
beliefs, less hostility towards women). Based on hierarchical multiple regression
analyses, a model of information processing was proposed. | |
