Effects of group status and victim sex on female bystanders' responses to a potential party rape.
This research examined bystander responses to 1 of 4 potential party rape scenarios. Undergraduate women (N = 249) imagined attending a party either alone or with three friends where a sober man led an intoxicated potential victim (either male or female) into a bedroom. After random assignment to conditions, participants reported on intent to help and barriers to helping the potential victim. In contrast to the classic bystander effect, bystanders in groups intended to offer more help than lone bystanders. Bystanders also intended to offer more help to potential female than male victims and experienced more barriers to helping male victims. Two of these barriers (lack of personal responsibility to help and identifying risk) explained the lower intentions to help potential male victims. Potential male victims were more likely than female victims to be perceived as gay, and bystanders reported the least intentions to help presumably gay men at risk.
Jennifer
J
Katz
Samuel
S
Colbert
Liane
L
Colangelo
D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000523:psychology; D000533:Altruism; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011902:Rape / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D012941:Social Responsibility; D055815:Young Adult