Citation

Marsh DP, Greenberg MS. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 1996; 1(2): 211-218.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.2044-8333.1996.tb00319.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study investigated attitudes towards a victim's response to an attempted street robbery. Participants (N=247) read a brief narrative in which three variables were manipulated in a 3 times 2 × 2 factorial design. The independent variables were (1) victim response (compliance, flight, resistance), (2) victim gender, and (3) victim's possession of a defensive weapon (mace, no mace). It was hypothesized that participants' attitudes would be based on a risks-benefits analysis of the victim's response and that this analysis would be guided by gender stereotypes. Consistent with this reasoning, results showed that compliance by a male victim was judged less favourably than compliance by a female victim, and that resistance by a female victim was judged less favourably than resistance by a male victim. Participants were most approving of the female's behaviour when she complied, somewhat less approving when she attempted to escape, and least approving when she resisted. In contrast, participants were most approving of the male victim's attempt to flee, while approval ratings were about equal when he complied or resisted. Contrary to expectations, possession of a defensive weapon did not influence participants' approval of the victim's response.

Language: en