Responsibility in Relation to Respectability

Abstract

Summary The present study tested the cross-cultural replicability of Jones and Aronson's finding that the victim of a rape is held more responsible for the crime if she is more respectable. Ss were 300 male and female graduate students of the University of Bombay. The experimental variables were manipulated through variations in the case accounts of a rape, with victim's status (unmarried virgin, married woman, widow, divorcee, and prostitute) as the first variable, actuality of the rape (completed versus merely attempted) as the second, and S's sex as the third. There were no differences in the responsibility attributed to the victim as a function of her respectability. Greater responsibility was attributed to the victim by male Ss than by female Ss (p < .05). More severe punishment was recommended to the accused for actual rape than for attempted rape (p < .001), this being especially true in the case of a married victim.