Blame

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


RATIONAL CAPACITY AS A CONDITION ON BLAME

ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY, Issue 2 2007
Pamela Hieronymi
First page of article [source]


Crohn's disease: Blame it on the bugs?

INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES, Issue 4 2004
Michael F. Picco MD
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Public thinking about poverty: why it matters and how to measure it

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 1 2007
Floyd H. Bolitho
Meeting the Millennium Development Goals partly depends on not-profit organizations raising more funds, which in turn depends on having reliable and valid assessments of where donor and recipient perceptions are out-of-line. Across samples from a developed economy Australia (n,=,754), and a developing economy Mala,i (n,=,387), we explored the factor structure of the ,Causes of Third-World Poverty Questionnaire' (CTWPQ, D. Harper and colleagues, 1990). In addition to four core factors suggested through an original (N,=,89) sample from the UK (Blame [1] the Poor, [2] Nature, [3] Third World governments, and [4] International Exploitation), combined Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) differentiate a possible fifth factor germane to the social marketing of aid, blame [5] Conflict. Australians and Mala,ians differed significantly on all five factors, with Mala,ians blaming poverty more on situations and less on the poor themselves, compared to Australian counterparts. Our findings are tentative because the CTWPQ item pool requires expanding to represent underlying constructs more fully. Nonetheless, instruments like the CTWPQ can in future be used to identify and monitor in-context psychosocial barriers to donation, enabling not-profit marketing organizations to raise funds more efficiently and effectively. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Moral Blame and Causal Explanation

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2000
Robert E. Lane
First page of article [source]


Social Attractiveness and Blame

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 9 2009
Mark D. Alicke
Blame attributions are influenced by various extralegal factors, although at present there is no compelling evidence to link what may be one of the most pervasive sources of bias in blame judgments,an actor's social attractiveness or likableness,to blame attributions. We conducted 2 studies that varied an actor's social attractiveness and assessed its influence on blame. Social attractiveness influenced blame ratings in both studies, and perceptions of the actor's likableness mediated this effect. [source]


The Effect of Victims' Social Support on Attributions of Blame in Female and Male Rape

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2005
Irina Anderson
The effects of perceived social support of the victim, victim gender, and participant gender on attributions of blame in rape were examined. The impact of attitudes toward gender roles was also investigated for their mediational role between participant gender and blame. Participants (N= 121) read a report of an incident of rape and evaluated the victim and the perpetrator. Two ANOVAs showed that social support and participant gender influenced blame attributed to the victim, while victim gender influenced blame attributed to the perpetrator. Socially supported victims were blamed less than were unsupported victims. Men were more blaming of rape victims than were women, but further analyses showed this was mediated by attitudes toward gender roles. Men held significantly more traditional attitudes toward gender roles than did women, and this accounted for the effect of participant gender on victim perceptions. The perpetrator of male rape was blamed less than the perpetrator of female rape. Findings are discussed in terms of the differential attributional mechanisms that may underpin men's and women's reasoning about different types of rape. [source]


Anger, Blame, and Dimensions of Perceived Norm Violations: Culture, Gender, and Relationships

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2004
Ken-Ichi Ohbuchi
From a social cognitive perspective on anger, we attempted to examine the structure of perceived norm violations and their relationships with anger. We asked 884 university students from 4 countries (United States, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong) to rate their experiences of being harmed in terms of norm violations, angry feelings, blame, and relationship with the harm doers. We found 2 culturally common dimensions in perceived norm violations (informal interpersonal norms and formal societal norms), and these dimensions substantially increased both angry feelings and blame in almost all cultural groups. The violation of interpersonal norms generally evoked anger more frequently than that of societal norms, but there were interactions between culture and relationship closeness and between gender and relationship closeness. [source]


Twelve-Step Groups, Attributions of Blame for Personal Sadness, Psychological Well-Being, and the Moderating Role of Gender,

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
J. B. Kingree
Two studies investigated links among 12-step group participation, gender, attributions of blame for personal sadness, and psychological well-being. Study I used a correlational design to examine these links cross-sectionally among substance abusers who identified alcohol as their primary drug problem. Study 2 used an experimental design to examine prospective links among these variables for substance abusers who were also adult children of alcoholics. Females engaged in more blame than did males, and personal blame was negatively related to psychological well-being in Studies 1 and 2. Most significantly, 12-step group participation was associated with lower personal blame among females but not among males across both studies. These results indicate that 12-step groups can reduce personal blame among females who have substance abuse problems. [source]


Expressing Conflict, Neutralizing Blame, and Making Concessions in Small-Claims Mediation

LAW & POLICY, Issue 2 2000
Marian Borg
This research examines the link between the way small-claims mediation participants express their conflicts and their willingness to engage in concession-making. Observations of seventy-seven mediation participants suggest that a significant factor in this relationship is the way participants manage the issue of blame. The research identifies three categories of mediants: individuals named in a civil suit who represent themselves; agents, usually lawyers, who represent the interests of other parties in a civil suit; and business owners or managers who represent the interests of their establishments. The study depicts some of the differences in the way these participants describe their conflicts. In particular, the research suggests that the manner in which mediation participants handle the issue of blame , by either justifying, excusing, or denying it , constrains their willingness to engage in concession-making, a fundamental aspect of the mediation process. I discuss implications for future research and for developing strategies that might improve the effectiveness of mediation for some participants. [source]


Relieving Pain and Foreseeing Death: A Paradox About Accountability and Blame

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 1 2000
Susana Nuccetelli
First page of article [source]


Not Afraid to Blame: The Neglected Role of Blame Attribution in Medical Consumerism and Some Implications for Health Policy

THE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002
Marsha Rosenthal
Starting roughly a quarter century ago, american medicine began a dramatic transformation from a system dominated by clinicians' decision making and professional norms to one in which medical care is expected to reflect the preferences and choices of individual consumers. This growing aspiration toward "medical consumerism" began during the 1970s with a set of popular social movements devoted to giving patients more control over their own treatment and a more informed choice of their physicians (Rodwin 1994). Although the seeds of consumerism were only haphazardly sown and incompletely germinated (Hibbard and Weeks 1987), by the end of the decade they had grown into a noticeable presence in the health care system (Haug and Lavin 1981). During the 1980s, these shifts in popular attitudes were reinforced by public policies and private practices intended to give consumers greater incentives to learn more about their medical choices and to exercise these choices in a cost-conscious manner (Arnould, Rich, and White 1993). [source]


I,The Relativism of Blame and Williams's Relativism of Distance

ARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME, Issue 1 2010
Miranda Fricker
Bernard Williams is a sceptic about the objectivity of moral value, embracing instead a qualified moral relativism,the ,relativism of distance'. His attitude to blame too is in part sceptical (he thought it often involved a certain ,fantasy'). I will argue that the relativism of distance is unconvincing, even incoherent; but also that it is detachable from the rest of Williams's moral philosophy. I will then go on to propose an entirely localized thesis I call the relativism of blame, which says that when an agent's moral shortcomings by our lights are a matter of their living according to the moral thinking of their day, judgements of blame are out of order. Finally, I will propose a form of moral judgement we may sometimes quite properly direct towards historically distant agents when blame is inappropriate,moral-epistemic disappointment. Together these two proposals may help release us from the grip of the idea that moral appraisal always involves the potential applicability of blame, and so from a key source of the relativist idea that moral appraisal is inappropriate over distance. [source]


Liability, Responsibility and Blame: British Ransom Victims in the Mediterranean Periphery, 1860,81

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 3 2000
Martin Blinkhorn
Between 1865 and 1881 there occurred in southern Europe and the Balkans several cases of kidnapping in which British subjects were seized and held to ransom by brigands. Most ended peacefully (though expensively) with the negotiation and handing over of a substantial ransom, usually in gold, and the subsequent freeing of the hostage(s); one case, that of the so-called ,Marathon murders' of 1870 in Greece, ended in tragedy. Quite apart from the problems these incidents created for the victims and their families, some kidnappings also raised important questions for the governments involved, notably who was to blame for such incidents, who was formally responsible for them, and , crucially , who was ultimately liable for the cost involved? These questions and the responses of British governments to them, culminating in 1881 with the enunciation by Gladstone's administration of a clear policy on such matters, form the core of this article. [source]


Blame and family conflict: symptomatic children as scapegoats

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2002
Rivka Yahav
ABSTRACT The study's aim was to examine the relation between children's symptom type, specifically externalized vs. internalized symptoms, and children's perception of being blamed by family members for various family conflicts. The research hypothesis was based on theories of family therapy, in particular on the concept of scapegoating and projective identification processes. The subjects were chosen from treatment centres for children and adolescents, using the Achenbach Self-Report Questionnaire. Subjects included males and females, aged 10,17, who had either internalized or externalized symptoms and no history of organic or psychotic disorders. The control group consisted of non-symptomatic children. The research groups also included each child's sibling closest in chronological age, who served as an additional control group. A total of 161 children participated in the study. It was found that externalizing children reported greater subjection to parental blame than did the other children. [source]


The test of self-conscious affect: internal structure, differential scales and relationships with long-term affects

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 6 2001
Johnny R. J. Fontaine
Item analyses and confirmatory factor analyses on the Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA), in a student (N,=,723) and an adult (N,=,891) sample, supported the theorized four factor structure of proneness to reparation, negative self-evaluation, externalizing blame and unconcern. However, two-fifth of the items did not empirically differentiate between two or more factors. Differential TOSCA scales, including only differentiating TOSCA items, were constructed and related to measures of long-term affect, depression, anxiety, and anger. Both the pattern and size of correlations of the original and the differential TOSCA scales were almost identical. Results of this study support the interpretation of TOSCA guilt as a measure of a tendency to reparation associated with guilt and TOSCA shame as a measure of a tendency to global negative self-evaluation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Relational Drawings in Couple Therapy

FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 1 2009
PETER ROBER
In couple therapy sessions, partners often get into long and drawn-out discussions, heavy with pain, resentment, and blame. It is vital for the therapist to avoid becoming entangled in these escalating interactions. In this article, as one way of avoiding these interactions, a protocol is proposed of using relational drawings in couple therapy for opening space for new stories. This approach is strongly rooted in extensive therapeutic experience, as well as in dialogical ideas. Not the content of the partners' imagery is central, but rather the dialogical exchange about the drawings. In particular, the focus of the therapist is on the partners' interactions, their hesitations and their surprises. Working in this way opens space for the partners to reflect on what they experience as crucial in their bond. The protocol is illustrated with two detailed case examples. RESUMEN En las sesiones de terapia de pareja los pacientes suelen tener conversaciones muy prolongadas cargadas de dolor, resentimiento y culpa. Es de vital importancia que el terapeuta evite enredarse en estas interacciones, que se hacen más y más intensas. En este artículo se propone un modo de conseguirlo, un procedimiento en el que se usan dibujos relacionales en la terapia de pareja para abrir un espacio para nuevas historias. Este enfoque está fuertemente arraigado en una amplia experiencia en terapia, así como en ideas dialógicas. No es el contenido de las imágenes creadas por los pacientes lo que tiene mayor importancia, sino el intercambio dialógico sobre los dibujos. En especial, el terapeuta se concentrará en las interacciones de la pareja, sus dudas y sus sorpresas. Trabajar de este modo abre un espacio para que ambos miembros de la pareja reflexionen sobre lo que consideran crucial en su unión. El procedimiento se ilustra con dos ejemplos detallados. Palabras clave: terapia relacional, no-verbal, dialógico, dibujos In couple therapy sessions, partners often get into long and drawn-out discussions, heavy with pain, resentment and blame. It is vital for the therapist to avoid becoming entangled in these escalating interactions. In this article, as one way of avoiding these interactions, a protocol is proposed of using relational drawings in couple therapy for opening space for new stories. This approach is strongly rooted in extensive therapeutic experience, as well as in dialogical ideas. Not the content of the partners' imagery is central, but rather the dialogical exchange about the drawings. In particular, the focus of the therapist is on the partners' interactions, their hesitations and their surprises. Working in this way opens space for the partners to reflect on what they experience as crucial in their bond. The protocol is illustrated with two detailed case examples. relational therapy, non-verbal, dialogical, drawings [source]


Managing the Bank-System Crisis in Coordinated Market Economies: Institutions and Blame Avoidance Strategies in Sweden and Japan

GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2006
TORSTEN SVENSSON
Sweden and Japan represent two different positions regarding policymaking when faced with similar crises of the bank systems. Different institutional settings led the main actors to different paths of reactions in order to avoid blame. In the Japanese case, the very close relationship between private banks and the Ministry of Finance, in combination with the lesser degree of widespread perceptions of a system crisis, made it more urgent as well as possible to conceal the actual state of affairs for the politicians. Confronted with the threat of losing power over the financial administration to a new agency, the ministry postponed the reforms in order to conceal the deep financial problems. The institutional setting was different in Sweden. Deregulation had separated the government from the administration of banks. Among the public deteriorating economic conditions were easily connected to the banks. This brought about political unity. It was possible to put the blame on the banks and take the credit for the efforts to tidy up the mess without losing credibility. [source]


,Beyond Left and Right': The New Partisan Politics of Welfare

GOVERNANCE, Issue 2 2000
Fiona Ross
The ,new politics of the welfare state,' the term coined by Pierson (1996) to differentiate between the popular politics of welfare expansion and the unpopular politics of retrenchment, emphasizes a number of factors that distinguish countries' capacities to pursue contentious measures and avoid electoral blame. Policy structures, vested interests, and institutions play a prominent role in accounting for cross-national differences in leaders' abilities to diffuse responsibility for divisive initiatives. One important omission from the ,new politics' literature, however, is a discussion of partisan politics. ,Old' conceptualizations of the political right and left are implicitly taken as constants despite radical changes in the governing agenda of many leftist parties over the last decade. Responding to this oversight, Castles (1998) has recently probed the role of parties with respect to aggregate government expenditures, only to concludethat parties do not matter under ,conditions of constraint.' This article contends that parties are relevant to the ,new politics' and that, under specified institutional conditions, their impact is counterintuitive. In some notable cases the left has had more effect inbruising the welfare state than the right. One explanation for these cross-cutting tendencies is that parties not only provide a principal source of political agency, they also serve as strategies, thereby conditioning opportunities for political leadership. By extension, they need to be situatedwithin the ,new politics' constellation of blame-avoidance instruments. [source]


Errors in technological systems

HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 4 2003
R.B. Duffey
Massive data and experience exist on the rates and causes of errors and accidents in modern industrial and technological society. We have examined the available human record, and have shown the existence of learning curves, and that there is an attainable and discernible minimum or asymptotic lower bound for error rates. The major common contributor is human error, including in the operation, design, manufacturing, procedures, training, maintenance, management, and safety methodologies adopted for technological systems. To analyze error and accident rates in many diverse industries and activities, we used a combined empirical and theoretical approach. We examine the national and international reported error, incident and fatal accident rates for multiple modern technologies, including shipping losses, industrial injuries, automobile fatalities, aircraft events and fatal crashes, chemical industry accidents, train derailments and accidents, medical errors, nuclear events, and mining accidents. We selected national and worldwide data sets for time spans of up to ,200 years, covering many millions of errors in diverse technologies. We developed and adopted a new approach using the accumulated experience; thus, we show that all the data follow universal learning curves. The vast amounts of data collected and analyzed exhibit trends consistent with the existence of a minimum error rate, and follow failure rate theory. There are potential and key practical impacts for the management of technological systems, the regulatory practices for complex technological processes, the assignment of liability and blame, the assessment of risk, and for the reporting and prediction of errors and accident rates. The results are of fundamental importance to society as we adopt, manage, and use modern technology. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 279,291, 2003. [source]


Consumer reaction to product recalls: factors influencing product judgement and behavioural intentions

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 1 2007
Celso Augusto De Matos
Abstract In order to evaluate the factors influencing consumers' responses to product recalls, two surveys were conducted among Brazilian automobile owners and two regression models tested. Results indicated that (i) product judgement was significantly affected by corporate social responsibility (CSR), blame attributed to the company and whether or not consumers had a car made by the brand considered; and (ii) behavioural intentions were significantly affected by CSR, consumers' involvement with the message, perceived danger, product judgement and whether or not consumers had a car made by the brand considered. Findings revealed, however, that CSR is a better predictor of the product judgement than of the behavioural intentions, in accordance with recent studies indicating that CSR affects consumer judgements and behaviour differently. Finally, these two models are discussed and compared with previous research. [source]


Public thinking about poverty: why it matters and how to measure it

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 1 2007
Floyd H. Bolitho
Meeting the Millennium Development Goals partly depends on not-profit organizations raising more funds, which in turn depends on having reliable and valid assessments of where donor and recipient perceptions are out-of-line. Across samples from a developed economy Australia (n,=,754), and a developing economy Mala,i (n,=,387), we explored the factor structure of the ,Causes of Third-World Poverty Questionnaire' (CTWPQ, D. Harper and colleagues, 1990). In addition to four core factors suggested through an original (N,=,89) sample from the UK (Blame [1] the Poor, [2] Nature, [3] Third World governments, and [4] International Exploitation), combined Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) differentiate a possible fifth factor germane to the social marketing of aid, blame [5] Conflict. Australians and Mala,ians differed significantly on all five factors, with Mala,ians blaming poverty more on situations and less on the poor themselves, compared to Australian counterparts. Our findings are tentative because the CTWPQ item pool requires expanding to represent underlying constructs more fully. Nonetheless, instruments like the CTWPQ can in future be used to identify and monitor in-context psychosocial barriers to donation, enabling not-profit marketing organizations to raise funds more efficiently and effectively. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Giving voice to the burden of blame: A feminist study of mothers' experiences of mother blaming

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING PRACTICE, Issue 4 2004
Debra Jackson RN BHSc(Nsg) MN(Ed) PhD
Mother blaming has been identified as a pervasive and serious problem and it is known that the professional literature has strong and entrenched mother-blaming messages. Using a feminist approach, this paper explores mother blaming as it has been experienced by a group of mothers themselves. Analysis of narrative exposes mother blaming as a burden that complicates the already-complex responsibilities that comprise mothering. Health providers are among those identified by women as being particularly likely to attribute problems with (even grown) children to maternal fault. Implications for practice and research are drawn from the findings of this paper. [source]


Perceived intentionality intensifies blameworthiness of negative behaviors: Blame-praise asymmetry in intensification effect1

JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2007
YOHSUKE OHTSUBO
Abstract:, The intensification effect in moral judgment refers to the fact that a behavior elicits more extreme blame or praise when it is intentionally (rather than unintentionally) performed. Two vignette experiments tested the hypothesis that intensification is stronger for blameworthy behaviors than for praiseworthy behaviors. In Study 1, 40 Japanese participants read 10 brief descriptions of negative or positive behaviors. Participants who attributed intentionality to negative (or positive) behaviors rated those behaviors as more blameworthy (or praiseworthy) than those who did not. Study 2 (N = 94) presented 20 descriptions of behaviors that differed according to a 2 × 2 (valence of behavior: positive vs. negative; intentionality: present vs. absent) between-participants design. Explicit indication of intentionality elevated blameworthiness of negative behaviors but not praiseworthiness of positive behaviors. [source]


The Global Financial Crisis and the Efficient Market Hypothesis: What Have We Learned?

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 4 2009
Ray Ball
The sharp economic downturn and turmoil in the financial markets, commonly referred to as the "global financial crisis," has spawned an impressive outpouring of blame. The efficient market hypothesis (EMH),the idea that competitive financial markets exploit all available information when setting security prices,has been singled out for particular attention. Like all successful theories, the EMH has major limitations, even as it continues to provide the foundation for not only past accomplishment, but future advances in the field of finance. Despite the theory's undoubted limitations, the claim that it is responsible for the current worldwide crisis seems wildly exaggerated. This essay shows the misreading of the theory and logical inconsistencies involved in popular arguments that EMH played a significant role in (1) the formation of the real estate and stock market bubbles, (2) investment practitioners' miscalculation of risks, and (3) the failure of regulators to recognize the bubbles and avert the crisis. At the same time, the author argues that the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other large financial institutions, far from resulting from excessive faith in efficient markets, reflects a failure to heed the lessons of efficient markets. In the author's words, "To me, Lehman's demise conclusively demonstrates that, in a competitive capital market, if you take massive risky positions financed with extraordinary leverage, you are bound to lose big one day,no matter how large and venerable you are." Finally, behavioral finance, widely considered as challenging and even supplanting efficient markets theory, is viewed in this article as complementing if not reinforcing efficient markets theory. As the author says, "it takes a theory to beat a theory." Behavioralism, for all its important contributions to finance literature, is described as not a theory but rather "a collection of ideas and results", one that depends for its existence on the theory of efficient markets. [source]


Self-Deception and Responsibility for Addiction

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, Issue 2 2003
Neil Levy
ABSTRACT We frequently accuse heavy drinkers and drug users of self-deception if they refuse to admit that they are addicted. However, given the ways in which we usually conceptualize it, acknowledging addiction merely involves swapping one form of self-deception for another. We ask addicts to see themselves as in the grip of an irresistible desire, and to accept that addiction is an essentially physiological process. To the extent this is so, we, as much as the addicts, suffer from self-deception, and the responsibility for their state is in part ours. Conversely, since addicts are compelled to accept a self-deceptive image of themselves, they are at least partially excused from blame for their self-deception. [source]


Social Attractiveness and Blame

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 9 2009
Mark D. Alicke
Blame attributions are influenced by various extralegal factors, although at present there is no compelling evidence to link what may be one of the most pervasive sources of bias in blame judgments,an actor's social attractiveness or likableness,to blame attributions. We conducted 2 studies that varied an actor's social attractiveness and assessed its influence on blame. Social attractiveness influenced blame ratings in both studies, and perceptions of the actor's likableness mediated this effect. [source]


Children's Moral Evaluations of Ecological Damage: The Effect of Biocentric and Anthropocentric Intentions,

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2009
Katherine V. Kortenkamp
Moral evaluations of ecologically damaging events were studied in 5th, 8th, and 11th graders and college students (N = 246). Participants made 4 kinds of judgments about 2 scenarios: decision rightness, damage rightness, blame of the decision maker, and blame of the agents causing the damage. In both scenarios, the decision maker's intentions varied (biocentric vs. anthropocentric) as did the damage severity. Overall, participants' judgments were less harsh when the decision maker had biocentric intentions and when the damage was less severe. However, there were age differences in use of intentions to judge decision rightness. The proposition that judgments of blame of the decision maker should be a joint function of decision and damage rightness was also supported. [source]


Attributions of Responsibility for Rape: Differences Across Familiarity of Situation, Gender, and Acceptance of Rape Myths,

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2008
Peter A. Newcombe
In 2004 in Australia, controversy over the alleged involvement of elite footballers in incidents of sexual assault highlighted a tendency to denigrate the victims and excuse the perpetrators. To investigate whether rape myths were prevalent enough to explain this public response, 102 university students were surveyed for their beliefs and determinations of blame in rape situations. Although there was a gender difference in the rates of rape myth acceptance, with males more likely to accept these beliefs, these were not evident in decisions about victim blame or perpetrator blame. However, males and high rape myth acceptors were significantly more likely to minimize the seriousness of the rape situation. These effects increased with familiarity depicted in the situation. [source]


Attributions of HIV Onset Controllability, Emotional Reactions, and Helping Intentions: Implicit Effects of Victim Sexual Orientation,

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2007
Jason D. Seacat
A vignette methodology was used to investigate the effects of systematically manipulating HIV onset controllability and victim sexual orientation on (a) participant attributions about a victim (i.e., perceptions of victim control, responsibility, and blame); (b) participant emotional reactions (anger and sympathy) toward a victim; and (c) participant helping intentions toward a victim. Weiner's (1980a, 1980b, 1995) attributional helping model was tested to determine whether participant anger and sympathy mediated the onset controllability/helping intentions relationship. A total of 399 undergraduate psychology students completed the survey. Statistically significant effects were found for HIV onset controllability and victim sexual orientation on participant attributions, emotional reactions, and helping intentions. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are addressed. [source]


The Effect of Victims' Social Support on Attributions of Blame in Female and Male Rape

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2005
Irina Anderson
The effects of perceived social support of the victim, victim gender, and participant gender on attributions of blame in rape were examined. The impact of attitudes toward gender roles was also investigated for their mediational role between participant gender and blame. Participants (N= 121) read a report of an incident of rape and evaluated the victim and the perpetrator. Two ANOVAs showed that social support and participant gender influenced blame attributed to the victim, while victim gender influenced blame attributed to the perpetrator. Socially supported victims were blamed less than were unsupported victims. Men were more blaming of rape victims than were women, but further analyses showed this was mediated by attitudes toward gender roles. Men held significantly more traditional attitudes toward gender roles than did women, and this accounted for the effect of participant gender on victim perceptions. The perpetrator of male rape was blamed less than the perpetrator of female rape. Findings are discussed in terms of the differential attributional mechanisms that may underpin men's and women's reasoning about different types of rape. [source]