Attitudes; *Victims of Crime

Public reactions to rape affect victims in a variety of ways and have implications for psychological services and legal adjudication of rape defendants. To investigate reactions to rape, 144 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 2 (male versus female subjects) x 2 (victim with versus without rape history) x 3 (high versus medium versus low level of victim provocation) between subject design. After reading a fictional police report that manipulated rape history and victim provocation, participants completed a nine-item Rape Questionnaire concerning perceptions of the victim and assailant. The results indicated sex by provocativeness interaction and main effects for all three independent variables. Subjects attributed increasing amounts of blame to the victim as her level of provocativeness intensified. Victims with a rape history were blamed more than were victims without a rape history. Subject sex was foun