Mitigating the Propensity to Victim-Blame via Parasocial Contact with Survivors of Sexual Assault

Abstract

This study attempts to integrate the predictions of defensive attribution theory (DAT; Shaver, 1970) and the parasocial contact hypothesis (PCH; Schiappa, Allen, & Gregg, 2005) to formulate a method for minimizing the propensity to victim-blame survivors of sexual assault. Despite national conversations surrounding consent and sexual assault emerging, the statistics of its prevalence continues to rise, and with it, the ignorance that results in victim-blaming (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018; Edwards, Turchik, Dardis, Reynolds, & Gidycz, 2011). By integrating the ideas of DAT (Shaver, 1970) and the PCH (Schiappa et al., 2005) this thesis examines how the establishment of personal and situational relevance felt toward sexual assault survivors can serve to minimize the tendency to victim-blame sexual assault survivors. Respondents (N = 176) participated in a 2 (depiction of sexual assault survivor: male or female) x 2 (message recipient: male or female) quasi-experiment, in which they were exposed to a story of a survivor coping with their assault. Participants were then asked to report their perceived homophily with the survivor, social distance between themselves and the survivor, victim-blaming, and perpetrator-blaming. The results, their implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed in relation to both DAT and the PCH.