This study investigated the influence of individual differences in attributional tendencies on the perception of a rape victim's causal role in her own vicitmization. Respondents'general tendency to attribute cause of events in another person's life to either personal, internal reasons or external, environmental ones was assessed, as were their attitudes to a variety of items on the subject of rape. Factor analysis of the rape questionnaire produced four factors: victim precipitation-responsibility, negative evaluation, sexual motivation, and power motivation. With the victim precipitation-responsibility factor serving as a measure of attributed responsibility, a factorial design was created with sex of subject and attributional propensity serving as independent measures. Males perceived significantly greater precipitation-responsibility on the part of a rape victim than did female respondents. There was also a significant overall trend for attributional orientation with "personals" indicating greater victim responsibility than that expressed by "environmentals." This effect was particularly evident among male subjects, while females did not significantly differ among themselves. Neither attributional nor sex differences were apparent in analyses of the evaluative or motivational factors.

Whereas much of the previous research has focused on the influence of victim characteristics on attributions of responsibility to a rape victim, the present study sought to assess the relative effectiveness of individual differences among observers in predicting perceptions of a rape victim's responsibility in her own victimization. Specifically, observers' sex, their attitudes toward women, and their degree of dogmatism significantly contributed to the prediction of victim responsibility in a multiple regression analysis. Observers' locus of control orientation, personal-environmental attributional tendency, and belief in a just world, however, failed to be of predictive utility.

The present study tested the hypothesis that a rape victim's physical attractiveness would differentially influence the decisions of simulated jurors. The implications of previous research on this premise were two-fold:(1) greater attractiveness would provide an attractive victim with greater advantages or (2) greater attractiveness would serve to the victim's disadvantage. Assessment of victim credibility and responsibility concerning the incident was not influenced by victim attractiveness.Punishment of the assailant, however, was affected by attractiveness with a longer sentence given when an attractive woman was concerned.Sex bias was noted only in assessment of guilt and sentencing with females tending to convict more often while males provided longer sentences.Although the legal process attempts to provide equitable justice, judiciary research suggests that there is considerable subjective bias in determining guilt and subsequent punishment. Bias has been shown to result from such factors as socio-economic status (Silverstein, 1965), race (Crockett, 1971), sex (Stephan, 1974), and respectability of the victim (Brooks, Doob, & Kirshenbaum, Note 1;Jones & Aronson, 1973) or the defendant (Landy & Aronson, 1969). ' In physical attractiveness research, infractions perpetrated by attractive individuals are considered less serious than the same acts committed by unattractive persons (Dion, 1972) and attractive offenders are judged to be less guilty than their unattractive counterparts (Efran, 1974). Kalven and Ziesel (1966) also noted that one factor often involved when a &dquo;real&dquo; judge disagreed with a jury's lenient decision was the attractiveness of the female defendant. Thus, it would appear that beauty begets leniency. This premise would seem congruent with the majority of attractiveness research pertaining to interpersonal attraction. We tend to like beautiful people, afford them greater social advantages, and ascribe to them more socially desirable attributes including better character (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972). However, there appears to be evidence that beautiful people may not be so ubiquitously advantaged over those who are less attractive. Sigall and Ostrove (1975) noted a tendency to provide for a harsher punishment when attractiveness was intentionally used to facilitate a crime. Additional support provided by Bakeman, Allison, and Helmreich (in press) suggested that attractive people are not so readily absolved of their transgressions and, in some instances, are even demeaned. Furthermore, Dermer and Thiel (1975) reported that, while the value of attributions generally increased with increasing beauty, very attractive females also became the recipients of certain negative attributions, among them a greater propensity to be vain, adulterous, and less sympathetic toward others. Based on their findings, Dermer and Thiel focused particular attention on the plight of a rape victim who might experience additional difficulty in securing a conviction of the accused when she is more, rathe...

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An attempt was made to replicate Howard and Dawes' (1976) finding that marital happiness is linearly related to the difference between frequency of sexual intercourse and frequency of arguments. Their finding was confirmed.However, in contrast to the Howard and Dawes results, the present results further suggest that either frequency variable can by itself serve as a predictor of marital happiness.