IngentaConnect Expectancy violation and perceptions of rape victim credibility

Authors: Hackett, Louisa¹; Day, Andrew¹; Mohr, Philip¹

Source: Legal and Criminological Psychology, Volume 13, Number 2, September 2008 , pp. 323-334(12)

Publisher: British Psychological Society

Abstract:

Purpose

Rape victims have been found to have a heightened risk of secondary victimization in the legal system through biased perceptions of their credibility. In this study, participants observed a video of a rape victim reporting the crime and evaluated her credibility, to establish the influence of victim emotional expressiveness on evaluations of victim credibility.

Methods

The nonverbal (eye-contact, crying) and paralinguistic (tone of voice) behaviour of the rape victim was manipulated such that the emotional presentation viewed by observers was either expressive, or not expressive. One hundred and thirty seven participants were randomly allocated to observe a videotape of either an expressive or a non-expressive victim. Participants' specific expectations about the emotional expressiveness of rape victims in general were also measured.

Results

Results revealed no significant main effect of emotional expressiveness on perceptions of credibility. However, among participants with a strong expectation of emotional expressiveness, a rape victim who was emotionally expressive was perceived to be significantly more credible than a victim who was not emotionally expressive.

Conclusions

It appears to be expectancy violation rather than emotional expressiveness per se that biases observers' perceptions of rape victim credibility.

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