The purpose of the present study was the construction of the Rape Empathy Scale (RES), designed to measure subjects' empathy toward the rape victim and the rapist in a heterosexual rape situation. The results of psychometric analyses of reliability for both a student and juror sample are presented, in addition to evidence of cross-validation on separate student and juror samples. Significant differences between male and female subjects' RES scores were found, as well as differences between scores of women who had experienced a rape situation (rape victims and rape resisters) and women with no previous exposure to rape. RES scores were predictive of both students' and jurors' ratings of defendant guilt, as well as their recommended sentences for the defendant and their attributions of responsibility for the crime. Furthermore, subjects' RES scores were predictive of their social perceptions of the rape victim and defendant, and male jurors' RES scores were negatively correlated with their reported desire to rape a woman. The results are discussed in relation to the low conviction rate for sexual assault cases and the importance of juror selection as a vehicle for increasing the number of just convictions in rape cases.

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The effects of anxiety management training and self-control desensitization in reducing targeted (test anxiety) and nontargeted anxieties were compared. Comparisons revealed that anxiety management training and self-control desensitization effectively reduced state (worry, emotionality, and state test anxiety) and trait (Debilitating scale of Achievement Anxiety Test and test item from the Pear Inventory) debilitating test anxiety and increased facilitating text anxiety (Facilitating scale of the Achievement Anxiety Test) relative to controls. A 6-week follow-up demonstrated maintenance of debilitating test anxiety reduction. No performance differences were found in analogue testing, but subjects receiving treatment had significantly higher psychology grades than those not receiving treatment. Posttreatment findings revealed some nontargeted anxiety reduction for self-control desensitization; however, by follow-up both treatments evidenced significant nontargeted anxiety reduction on both measures. The results are discussed in terms of remedial and preventive functions met by the self-control interventions; the possibility of treating diverse anxieties within a single anxiety management training group is also considered.

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