Pauline Robinson-Stevens | The Impact of Social Status on Attributions of Responsibility in Instances of Sexual Assault

The current research analyzed how a perpetrator’s achieved social status (ex: education level, occupation, accomplishments) influenced participants’ attributions of responsibility for an instance of sexual assault to either the perpetrator or the victim, as well as how observer gender impacted attitudes.  I predicted that if an observer (i.e. a participant) was a stranger to both the perpetrator and the survivor, they would be more likely to assign responsibility for the assault to the survivor if the observer identified as male and if the perpetrator was of a higher social status. 

Faculty mentor: Dr. Andrew Luttrell

Department of Psychological Science

Undergraduate

Honors College