Perceptions of a Hypothetical Sexual Assault: The Impact of the Interrelationships Between Eight Situational Factors

Abstract

The current research examined the interactions between various factors that contribute to perceptions of a woman's sexual assault. Participants read a vignette about an assault in which we varied eight factors. We assessed the impact of these factors and their interactions on participants’ perceptions of the assault. Participants’ perceptions were more driven by the characteristics of the victim rather than the perpetrator. The factor that had the most overall impact on perceptions of the sexual assault was whether the victim explicitly agreed to go to the perpetrator's home. Implications of our results are discussed in various contexts.