Exposure to information about sexual crimes and its relationship to perceptions of social threats and belief in a just world
| Date | 31 October 2024 |
| Pages | 105-125 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-08-2024-0076 |
| Published date | 31 October 2024 |
| Author | Tomasz Grzyb,Dariusz Dolinski,Paweł Muniak,Wojciech Kulesza |
Exposure to information about sexual
crimes and its relationship to perceptions
of social threats and belief in a just world
Tomasz Grzyb, Dariusz Dolinski, PawełMuniak and Wojciech Kulesza
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of the two online experimentalstudies was to examine how information about
threats related to sexualcrimes influences personal beliefs regarding socialthreats (in line with the finite
pool of worryconcept) and belief in a just world, as proposedby Melvin Lerner.
Design/methodology/approach –In the first experiment(n¼256), female participants were presented
with press information about a sexual crime that occurred at a student concert. Different groups were
informed whether the perpetrator was apprehended (or not) and askedto indicate the punishment they
thought should be imposed.In the second experiment (n¼251), participants in the experimentalgroup
were askedto read texts about various threatsthat may concern them.
Findings –In both experiments, the authors measured the perceived risk of being a vi ctim of a sexual crime
(and, in Study 1, other threats) as well as belief in just world (at both personal a nd general levels). Analysis of
results has shown that participants’ focus on one threat did not reduce their conce rns about other threats.
However, belief in just world appears to be negatively associated with the fear of being a victim of a sexual crime.
Originality/value –The findings concernthe relationship between the senseof threat and belief in a just
world. In this regard,both of the studies consistently showed that the threatsthe authors induced did not
affect thelevel of belief in a just world. However, thesecond experiment revealed that beliefin a just world
is related to thefear of being raped. Belief in a just world servesas a foundation for good adaptation and
functioning. It provides cognitive control, motivates hard work and long-term goal-setting and gives life
meaning (e.g.Dalbert, 1999;Dalbert and Sallay, 2004;Sutton and Winnard,2007). Therefore, a woman’s
fear of beinga victim of rape has implications that extendbeyond this narrowly defined issue.
Keywords Risk perception, Rape myths, Belief in just world
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Research indicates that a significant proportion of women and girls (even over one-third –
Watts and Zimmerman, 2002;White et al., 2024) experience sexual violence during their
lifetime. According to some researchers (Dartnall and Jewkes, 2013;World Health
Organization, 2021), this phenomenon has reached such proportions that it can be termed
an epidemic. Simultaneously, in many areas of social functioning, this phenomenon is
associated with myths and stereotypes. For example, in courts, both judges and jury
members often base their assessment of the likelihood of rape on their preconceptions
rather than facts (Willmott et al.,2021;Willmott and Hudspith, 2024).
Clearly, such myths are present in virtually every social group (Lilley et al.,2023;Willmott et al.,
2024). All this suggests that we may be unaware of a significant number of s uch crimes due to
victims’ reluctance to report them (DeLisi et al., 2016;Balemba and Beauregard, 2019). At the
same time, it is worth remembering that a significant proportion of perpetrators are individual s
who have also experienced violence (Jung and Carlson, 2011;Willmott, Boduszek, and
Robinson, 2017), which makes efforts related to sexual crime preventi on even more complex.
Tomasz Grzyb and Dariusz
Dolinski are both based at
Faculty of Psychology in
Wrocław, SWPS University,
Warszawa, Poland.
Paweł Muniak and
Wojciech Kulesza are both
based at Faculty of
Psychology, SWPS
University, Warszawa,
Poland.
Received 20 August 2024
Revised 7 October 2024
Accepted 10 October 2024
Funding: The preparation of
this article was funded under
the intervention grant of the
NAWA (Polish National Agency
for Academic Exchange) grant
no. BPN/GIN/2022/1/00035.
DOI 10.1108/JCP-08-2024-0076 VOL. 15 NO. 1 2025, pp. 105-125, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829 jJOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY jPAGE 105
Concurrently, media reports on sexual crimes are also full of myths and misconceptions
(Pradipta and Resen, 2024), affecting both traditional media (press, television) and social
media (Andreasen, 2021). It is thereforeworth considering what psychological mechanisms
may accompany the reading of texts describing cases of sexual violence against women.
One such mechanism is the phenomenon of “The Finite Pool of Worry.” The “Finite Pool of
Worry” (Linville and Fischer, 1991) is a psychological concept suggesting that individuals
have a limited capacity for worrying. This means that as new concerns arise and fill this
mental “pool,” older concerns are often pushed out or diminished in their perceived
importance. The concept highlights that people can only focus on a finite number of worries
at any given time, so the introduction of new worries can shift attention away from existing
ones. This has implications in areas such as public policy, risk communication and media
coverage, where understanding and managing this finite capacity for worry can influence
how information is presented andreceived by the public.
Results supporting this concept were obtained in experimental studies conducted in
Argentina (Hansen et al.,2004)–farmers who were exposed to threatening information
related to climate changes that could affect their crop yields reduced their perception of
risks such as political crisis in Argentina. However, it seems interesting to examine how the
perception of press material that carries information about a threat to a specific group (for
example, information about the risk of sexual crimes against female students) affects the
perception of the risk of being exposed to it and the fearof other threats present around the
individual. In other words, does information about your vulnerability to sexual crime reduce
your fear of other crimes (e.g.theft) and other threats in general.
Another psychological mechanism associated with the perception of information about
sexual crimes is the “Just World Theory.” The basic idea of the just worldtheory, formulated
by Melvin Lerner (1965,1980), is that people believe the world they live in is one where
individuals get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This belief allows people to
perceive their social and physical environment as stable, predictable and controllable to a
significant extent. In a just world, rewards go to those who are honest and hardworking,
while punishment is the fate of those deemed unworthy. Therefore, in addition to the
fundamental human need for honesty and justice,the belief in a just world gives meaning to
hard work, ambitious long-term plansand human existence in general.
As the belief in a just world plays such an important role, people defend the notion that the
world around them is just, even when confronted with instances of injustice. As a means of
defense, they will try to re-establishjustice, withdraw from the domain of injustice or redefine
the situation to convince themselves and others that justice prevails. The latter strategy
occurs primarily when a person learnsthat someone has become a victim of random events
(e.g. death due to an earthquake) or other people’s actions (e.g. suffering a significant loss
as a result of fraud in an online banking transaction). The very concept of an innocentvictim
is contrary to the idea of a just world, where innocent victims simply do not exist. If
something bad has happened to a victim, they must have done something to deserve it or
even partially cause it (Hayes et al., 2013;Jones and Aronson, 1973). In line with this
reasoning, it is not surprising that various empirical studies have demonstrated that the
belief in a just world is a significant predictor of negative attitudes toward rape victims (e.g.
Furnham, 2003;Kleinke and Meyer, 1990;Lambertand Raichle, 2000;Sakallı-U
gurlu, Yalc¸ın
and Glick, 2007;Pinciotti and Orcutt, 2021). If a rape victim is (at least to some extent)
responsible for what happened to her, the world is no longer perceived as so unfair.
Blaming the rape victim may, in some cases, be relatively easy because the circumstances
of such events are often ambiguous (e.g. the victim was under the influence of alcohol, the
man accused of rape claims that the victim behaved provocatively and even encouraged
him to initiate sexual activity,etc.).
This tendency to blame victims is a psychological defense mechanism that helps
individuals maintain their belief in a just world. By attributing responsibility to the victim,
PAGE 106 jJOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY jVOL. 15 NO.1 2025
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