Famous or Infamous? The Influence of Celebrity Status and Race on Perceptions of Responsibility for Rape

Knight, Jennifer L.; Giuliano, Traci A.; Sanchez-Ross, Monica

doi:10.1207/s15324834basp2303_4

Cited by 26 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Several other studies on legal decision making (e.g., Dovidio, Smith, Donnella, & Gaertner, 1997a; Knight, Guiliano, & Sanchez‐Ross, 2001) have yielded similar evidence of this subtle but persistent pattern of discrimination when Whites are provided with ostensibly non race‐related bases for their decisions. However, consistent with the aversive racism framework, when testimony is included that suggests that criminal allegations against a defendant may be racially motivated (thus triggering bias concerns), Whites no longer racially discriminate (Sommers & Ellsworth, 2000).…”

Section: Consequences Of Aversive Racismmentioning

confidence: 64%

The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Pearson

Dovidio

Gaertner

2009

Social & Personality Psych

266

242

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Within the United States, declines in the overt expression of racial prejudice over several decades have given way to near universal endorsement of the principles of racial equality as a core cultural value. Yet, evidence of persistent and substantial disparities between Blacks and Whites remain. Here, we review research that demonstrates how the actions of even well-intentioned and ostensibly non-prejudiced individuals can inadvertently contribute to these disparities through subtle biases in decision making and social interactions. We argue that current racial attitudes of Whites toward Blacks in the United States are fundamentally ambivalent, characterized by a widespread contemporary form of racial prejudice, aversive racism, that is manifested in subtle and indirect ways, and illustrate its operation across a wide range of settings, from employment and legal decisions, to group problem-solving and everyday helping behavior. We conclude by describing research aimed at combating these biases and identify new avenues for future research.

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Section: Consequences Of Aversive Racismmentioning

confidence: 64%

The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Pearson

Dovidio

Gaertner

2009

Social & Personality Psych

266

242

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Aversive racism is also influential in selection decisions in employment and college admission, interpersonal judgments, and policy and legal decisions (see Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004;Knight, Guiliano, & Sanchez-Ross, 2001;Sommers & Ellsworth, 2000). For example, examined White college students' support for hiring Black and White applicants for a selective campus position within the same college in the years 1989 and 1999.…”

Section: Aversive Racismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aversive Racism and Contemporary Bias

Dovidio

Gaertner

Pearson

2016

The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice

119

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In the United States, the 1960s and early 1970s were characterized by significant societal changes. The Civil Rights Movement and social, political, and moral forces stimulated these changes to address racism by White Americans toward Black Americans and achieve the nation's historical egalitarian ideals. With the Civil Rights legislation and other federal mandates, it was no longer simply immoral to discriminate against Blacks; it was now also illegal. Surveys and national polls revealed significant reductions in overt expressions of prejudice among Whites toward Blacks (Dovidio & Gartner, 2004). This unprecedented change in race relations in the United States changed the nature of racial attitudes, from blatant to subtle, and consequently the study of prejudice in psychology (Dovidio, 2001). In other countries, similar normative changes have reduced blatant expressions of prejudice while more subtle, yet equally pernicious, forms of bias persist (see Pettigrew & Meertens, 1995). This chapter reviews the development of theory about contemporary forms of racismfocusing primarily on aversive racismtracing the evolution of this perspective, describing key empirical evidence, and identifying productive avenues for future research. We begin by reviewing relations among different theories of subtle contemporary racism, including aversive racism, and then discuss work on implicit prejudice and its relationship to aversive racism. We then consider the implications of aversive racism for interventions to reduce bias and identify promising new directions for research on contemporary racism, in general, and aversive racism, in particular.

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“…Knight et al (2001) found that perception of rape is influenced by the perpetrator’s celebrity status as well: famous perpetrators were evaluated more positively than non-famous ones. Furthermore, participants recommended shorter sentences, considered the perpetrators more reliable and thought that victims enjoyed the rape more if the perpetrators were celebrities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Thus, we could examine the effect of RMA and the related biased perception of the perpetrator more clearly than studies that focused on the evaluation of rape cases committed by people who were celebrities at the time of the rape. These studies have found that not only famous perpetrators were found less guilty, rape itself was seen differently (e.g., Knight et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2018

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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 = 105) took place after the perpetrator admitted his crime. In line with our predictions, we found that in the uncertain context of Study 1, RMA and the perception of the perpetrator as a successful person predicted whether respondents labeled the incident as rape, and how the perpetrator’s reactions were judged morally. In the certain condition of Study 2, RMA continued to predict moral judgments, but it no longer predicted whether the incident was labeled as rape. These findings showed that in the evaluation of a rape case of a popular and powerful person, perception of the perpetrator’s success can affect the overall evaluation of the case based on the level of RMA. However, such a connection is more pronounced when there are still ambiguities regarding the rape. We therefore suggest that both RMA and the effect of the overall perception of the perpetrator are considered in rape prevention programs, because rape cases rarely appear as certain and unambiguous in the media.

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Famous or Infamous? The Influence of Celebrity Status and Race on Perceptions of Responsibility for Rape

Cited by 26 publications

References 35 publications

The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Aversive Racism and Contemporary Bias

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

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