Attributions to Discrimination Against Black Victims in a Multiracial Society: Isolating the Effect of Perpetrator Group Membership

Is That Really Sexual Harassment? The Effect of a Victim's Sexual Orientation on How People View a Sexual Harassment Claim

In four experiments and a meta-analysis, the present research examined how the sexual orientation of a victim affected the perceived legitimacy of sexual harassment claims. Working from prototype theory, the researchers hypothesized that because lesbian women deviate from the prototype of a sexual harassment victim, people would be less likely to perceive sexual harassment claims as legitimate when the victim was a lesbian woman as compared to a heterosexual woman. Although Experiment 1 yielded results congruent with the hypothesis, Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 did not. A meta-analysis conducted to assess effects of sexual orientation across all studies was not significant (g = -.06, z = -1.20, p = .23). The impact of victim prototypicality on perceptions of sexual harassment claims is discussed.

When Do Observers Deprioritize Due Process for the Perpetrator and Prioritize Safety for the Victim in Response to Information-Poor Allegations of Harm?

We examined how observers assess information-poor allegations of harm (e.g., "my word against yours" cases), in which the outcomes of procedurally fair investigations may favor the alleged perpetrator because the evidentiary standards are unmet. Yet this lack of evidence does not mean no harm occurred, and some observers may be charged with deciding whether the allegation is actionable within a collective. On the basis of theories of moral typecasting, procedural justice, and uncertainty management, we hypothesized that observers would be more likely to prioritize the victim's safety (vs. to prioritize due process for the perpetrator) and view the allegation as actionable when the victim-alleged perpetrator dyad members exhibit features that align with stereotypes of victims and perpetrators. We supported our hypothesis with four studies using various contexts, sources of perceived prototypicality, due-process prioritization, and samples (students from New Zealand, Ns = 137 and 114; Mechanical Turk workers from the United States; Ns = 260 and 336).