This study examined the relationship of social influence to attributions of responsibility for rape. Subjects, 86 male and female college students, the majority of whom were 18-22 years old, read a scenario describing an incident of rape at a fraternity party. Situations of varying presence and absence of modeling were portrayed, although in all…

Acquaintance rape has been found to occur with disturbing frequency in an adolescents' social world. Unlike stranger rape, acquaintance rape, particularly dating rape, takes place in the context of normal social activity. In 1978, 432 adolescents, ages 14-18, were interviewed in the Los Angeles area: half male, and half female, and one-third drawn…

The purpose of this paper was to increase awareness of some of the ways that we, as individuals and as a society, are encouraging the crime of rape. The paper examines our ideals about sexuality, appropriate sexual roles for women and men, the relationship between sex and aggression and how these contribute to rape. Laws, court procedures and…

Attribution theory research has been criticized for minimizing the influences of social structure variables on individuals. The role of social factors in attributions was explored with 90 females and 50 males who, after reading interviews between police and assault victims, made attributions of blame about different types of assault. The…