The Relationships of Observer Characteristics to Beliefs in the Causal Responsibility of Victims of Sexual Assault

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Abstract
Whereas much of the previous research has focused on the influence of victim characteristics on attributions of responsibility to a rape victim, the present study sought to assess the relative effectiveness of individual differences among observers in predicting perceptions of a rape victim's responsibility in her own victimization. Specifically, observers' sex, their attitudes toward women, and their degree of dogmatism significantly contributed to the prediction of victim responsibility in a multiple regression analysis. Observers' locus of control orientation, personal-environmental attributional tendency, and belief in a just world, however, failed to be of predictive utility.