Beautiful Thus Innocent? The Impact of Defendants' and Victims' Physical Attractiveness and Participants' Rape Beliefs on Impression Formation in Alleged Rape Cases
| Author | Hannah R. Firmin,Alder Vrij |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800100800301 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
International
Review
ofVictimology,
2001,
Vol.
8,
pp.245-255
0269-7580/01
$10
© A B
Academic
Publishers
-Printed
in
Great
Britain
BEAUTIFUL
THUS
INNOCENT?
THE
IMPACT
OF
DEFENDANTS'
AND
VICTIMS'
PHYSICAL
ATTRACTIVENESS
AND
PARTICIPANTS'
RAPE
BELIEFS
ON
IMPRESSION
FORMATION
IN
ALLEGED
RAPE
CASES
ALDER
VRIJ*
AND
HANNAH
R.
FIRMIN
Psychology
Department,
University
of
Portsmouth,
UK
ABSTRACT
This
experiment
examined
the
possible
beneficial
effects of victims'
and
defendants'
good-looks
in
an
alleged
rape
case.
It
was
hypothesized
that
people
who
especially endorsed 'Rape Myths'
would
be
more
favourable
towards
victims
and
defendants
who
are
good-looking.
Moreover,
it
was
hypothesized
that
females
would
be
more
favourable
towards
the
victim
than
males
and
that
this
gender difference
would
be
mediated
by
differences
in
"Rape
Myths
Acceptance".
In the experiment,
80
observers
were
exposed
to
an
extract of a victim's story
about
an
alleged
rape
case.
The
physical attractiveness of
both
the
victim
and
the
defendant
were
systematically
varied.
Observers'
Rape
Myths
Acceptance
were
measured
with
Burt's
(1980)
Rape
Myths
Acceptance
scale.
The results
support
the
hypotheses;
it
is
therefore suggested
that
the
acceptance
of
these
myths
should be investigated
in
selection
procedures
of
people
who
are
likely
to
be
confronted
with
victims
of
sexual
offenses,
such
as
police
officers
and
jury
members
in
rape
or
sexual
harassment
cases.
INTRODUCTION
Research
on
physical attractiveness
has
shown
that,
in
general,
it
is
beneficial
to
be
good-looking. For
instance,
handsome
people
date
more
frequently
(Reis
et
al.,
1982),
describe
themselves
as
happier
(Umberson
and
Hughes,
1987),
have
fewer
psychological disorders
(Hatfield
and
Sprecher,
1986),
receive
more
help
from
others
(Benson
et
al.,
1976),
make
more
money
(Roszell
et
al.,
1990)
, have
more
prestigious jobs
(Umberson
and
Hughes,
1987),
are
more
influential
in
delivering emotional
arguments
(Pallak:
et
al.,
1983),
are
held
to
be
less
account-
able
for
negative, unfortunate
events
(Efran,
1974),
and
are
likely
to
be
the
recipients of greater restitution
for
being
the
victims
of negative
acts
(Kulka
and
Kessler,
1978).
Several
reasons
account
for
these
positive
effects.
* Correspondence concerning
this
article
should
be
addressed
to:
Aldert
Vrij,
University of Port-
smouth,
Psychology
Department,
King
Henry
Building,
King
Henry
1 Street, POI
2DY,
United
Kingdom.
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