Abstract
Senior baccalaureate nursing students ( N = 180) read an account about a rape victim depicted as having driven to a drugstore on a legitimate errand. There were six versions of the rape, in which the victim either locked or failed to lock her car door (carelessness manipulation) and in which the rape occurred at 5:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., or midnight. Subjects reading the Unlocked version (as compared to those getting the Locked version) regarded the victim as more likely to be predisposed to get into situations like rape, liked and identified with the victim significantly less, and viewed her as more careless and responsible for the rape. Time of attack also significantly affected attributions about predisposition to get into situations like rape, carelessness, and responsibility, with the victim rated most negatively in the midnight version.