Perception of a Perpetrator as a Successful Person Predicts Decreased Moral Judgment of a Rape Case and Labeling it as Rape.

ABSTRACT: Rape cases of celebrities and other influential figures have caught the public eye in recent years. Following the media attention to these cases, people made strong judgments either believing or doubting the victims. Even though some of these men were convicted, they tended to receive little jail time and continued to enjoy people's sympathy, as in the case of the Hungarian national swimming-coach. We examined whether opinions about the coach's rape were affected by rape myth acceptance (RMA) and the perception of the perpetrator as a successful person. We conducted two online surveys to reveal this connection at two different points. The case was still somewhat ambiguous at the time of data collection for Study 1 (N = 870) because the perpetrator denied it. However, Study 2 (N</

SUBMITTER: Nyul B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6297382 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature