Himpathy and status: Attitudes to social hierarchy predict reactions to sexual harassment.

ABSTRACT: In three studies, we tested whether hierarchical preferences could explain differences in punishment recommendations for sexual harassment. Building on research that suggests punishment is used to regulate social hierarchies, we argue that individuals who are motivated to maintain existing hierarchies will treat male perpetrators of sexual harassment with greater leniency, especially when judging perpetrators of high social status. Conversely, we predict that egalitarians-who are motivated to reduce group-based hierarchies-will judge male perpetrators more harshly, especially those of high social status. Given competing theories in the existing literature, we make no predictions about how perpetrator status will affect punishment recommendations overall. Supporting our hypotheses, we found

SUBMITTER: Weaving M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10699639 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature