Cognitive mediators of reactions to rape.

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Abstract
35 male and 35 female undergraduates were exposed to slides that portrayed aggression, close personal interactions between men and women, and women as sex objects before reading the testimonies of rape victims and making judgments concerning both the victim and the alleged rapist. Results show that exposure to negative consequences of aggression apparently threatened Ss' beliefs in a just world, leading them to interpret rape incidents in ways that reaffirmed this belief (i.e., it strengthened Ss' beliefs that the defendant should be punished, but it also caused them to attribute more responsibility for the incident to the victim). Portrayals of close personal relationships between men and women increased male Ss' beliefs that rape victims were responsible for the incident, but had the opposite effect on female Ss' beliefs. Portrayals of women as sex objects decreased males' beliefs in the victim's credibility and increased their beliefs that she was responsible for the incident; however, it had the opposite effects on females' judgments. Despite their effect on judgments of the rape victim, priming manipulations did not affect beliefs that the defendant should be convicted. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the effects of the public media on attitudes and beliefs about rape. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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