THE ROLE OF NEED FOR COGNITION AND JUSTICE SENSITIVITY IN RAPE MYTH ACCEPTANCE

Abstract

Rape myths are stereotypical beliefs that excuse the rapist and hold the victim responsible for rape. An example of a rape myth is ‘a victim's clothes can cause sexual assault’. Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA), the degree of agreement with rape myths, is positively related to blaming sexually assaulted friends (Rich et al., 2021), assigning lesser guilt to the defendant (Süssenbach et al., 2013), rape proclivity (O'Connor, 2020), and the acceptance of sexual violence against women (Burt, 1980; White & Sorenson, 1992). This study attempts to, firstly, grasp the nature of rape myths in the Indian context; secondly, develop a rape myth acceptance scale that is culturally and linguistically sensitive to the Indian context; and to study the role of Need for Cognition (NFC, a person's tendency to enjoy effortful cognitive activity), Justice Sensitivity (J.S., a person's sensitivity to justice) and demographic variables in RMA; thirdly to establish convergent validity and discriminant validity of the new RMA scale. The study comprises of three stages. Stage 1 was a qualitative study to identify rape myths in Indian culture on a small purposive sample, including police personnel, lawyers, students, and the general public (N= 36). Stage 2 was aimed at the cultural adaptation of the RMA scale and investigating the role of need for cognition, justice sensitivity, and demographic variables in rape myth acceptance using survey method on a convenience sample (N=449). The objective of Stage 3 was establishing the validity of the newly developed tool (RMA scale) using survey method on a convenience sample (n=426). Thirty-six items for the preliminary RMAS-I were developed using the following strategies: 1. Addition of items based on a qualitative study. 2. Modification or selection of items from Updated Illinois RMA scale (McMahon & Farmer, 2011) (with author permission). For item pretesting and translation, I followed the guidelines suggested by Hilton & Hilton, (2017), Willis et al., (1991), ITC (International Test Commission, 2017), and WHO (2020). Thematic analysis of data collected through in-depth interviews indicate that along with the attribution of the blame on victim characteristics such as short clothes and alcohol consumption, rape is also attributed to specific victim behaviors. These include 'western' clothes, lack of parental control, disregard for traditional norms, going out for leisure, having a boyfriend, etc. Results from exploratory factor analyses support four dimensions of RMA scale: She Lied (Disbelieving), She Should Keep Quiet (Silencing), She Asked for It (Blaming), and It Wasn't Really Rape (Denying). Items in the new dimension ‘She Should Keep Quiet’ capture the belief that it is wiser to enshroud rape than to make a legal complaint. This dimension is critically important because it captures a fundamental problem with how rape is handled (mishandled) in Indian society. The belief that victims should not complain about rape to protect their family name deprives them of their right to justice. CFA, conducted on another sample, indicted that the four-factor model fitted well with the data (χ 2 [85] = 1.95, CFI=.928, TLI=.909, SRMR=.055, RMSEA=.068). For establishing convergent validity and discriminant validity, I used the hostile sexism and benevolent sexism sub-scales of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 1996). The correlation between RMA and Hostile Sexism is strong (r=.69, p < 0.01). And the correlation between RMA and Benevolent Sexism is weak (r=.38, p<0.01). The new scale Rape Myth Acceptance Scale- Indian Adaptation (RMAS-I) has fifteen items and three of these items are reverse coded. Results of regression analysis indicate that justice sensitivity and need for cognition separately predict rape myth acceptance. According to the results of t-test and ANOVA, RMA is influenced by gender and annual family income but not educational qualification, settlement type or knowing a rape victim. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the training of legal actors and educational interventions to reduce RMA. The present study demonstrates that rape myth acceptance can be effectively measured by the Rape Myths Acceptance Scale – Indian Adaptation. Such beliefs influence the attitude and response of police, legal professionals, and community members towards rape victims, rapists, and rape. Rape Myths and their detrimental effects should be considered more consistently.