ABSTRACT
The current study investigated differences in decision-making style and risk-taking between financial traders, non-trading bank employees, and people not working in finance. Traders scored significantly higher than participants in the other two groups on the cognitive reflection test (CRT) which measures the tendency to inhibit automatic but frequently false responses in reasoning tasks. Scores for traders compared to people outside the banking sector were also higher on a self-rated scale for reflective thinking in decision-making, but there were no differences in self-rated intuitive thinking between groups. Financial risk-taking correlated with cognitive reflection scores and was significantly lower in the non-expert group compared to the other groups working in financial services. Traders in the current study showed no elevated preference to use 'intuition' in their decision-making compared to other groups. Overall, these results indicate that compared to non-expert participants financial traders have a higher self-rated tendency for reflective thinking and a greater propensity to inhibit the use of mental shortcuts (heuristics) in decision-making.
Subject(s)
Intuition , Thinking , Adult , Decision Making , Female , Humans , Internet , Male , Risk-Taking , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The present study examines the effects of victim age, victim physical maturity, and respondent gender on attributions toward victims, perpetrator, and the nonoffending members of the victim's family in a hypothetical child sexual abuse (CSA) case. Participants read a brief CSA vignette in which the male perpetrator (a school caretaker) sexually abuses a student in the school changing rooms. The victim was depicted as either a 12- or 15-year-old girl who, in terms of physical maturity, was either pre- or postpubescent. Separate 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVAs were performed on the dependent variables. Results conformed broadly to the study's predictions with younger victims being viewed more negatively than older victims and the victim's physical appearance being viewed as more encouraging of CSA for the younger than for the older girl. Female participants were more likely to endorse the belief that the younger victim should have fought back and that the prepubescent 15-year-old victim should have fought back more than her postpubescent counterpart. While attributions toward the perpetrator and victim's family did not differ across conditions for women, men tended to blame the perpetrator more when victims were younger and the family more when victims were less physically mature. Findings are discussed in relation to norm theory principles, just world theory, and the defensive attribution hypothesis.
Subject(s)
Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Child Abuse, Sexual/psychology , Child Behavior/psychology , Crime Victims/psychology , Perception , Public Opinion , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Analysis of Variance , Child , England , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Psychological Theory , Puberty , Schools , Sex Factors , Social Perception , Stress, Psychological , Students , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
This study examines attitudes towards female and male rape victims (ARVS, Ward, 1988) among UK medical students (N = 240; 120 females and 120 males). The study's hypotheses, namely, that male respondents will view rape victims more negatively than female respondents and that male victims will be viewed more negatively than female victims, were supported. Implications of the findings in relation to the inclusion of sexual violence teaching in UK medical undergraduate curricula, and suggestions for further research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Crime Victims , Physician-Patient Relations , Rape , Students, Medical/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Sex Factors , Surveys and Questionnaires , United Kingdom , Young AdultABSTRACT
The study had three research aims: (1) to examine the current perception of female rape. Given recent changes in public awareness of female rape, it was predicted that respondents would conceptualize a typical female rape as an acquaintance rape rather than as the stranger rape stereotype; (2) to examine whether these perceptions differ according to respondents' gender; (3) to examine the 'cultural lag' theory of male rape, where it was hypothesized that if the public perception of male rape lags behind female rape, then a typical male rape will be conceptualized as the classic stranger rape stereotype. Findings showed that contrary to predictions, a typical female rape was conceptualized according to the stranger rape stereotype. It was also found that instead of lagging behind female rape along the stranger-acquaintance rape dimension, male rape was viewed predominantly in terms of 'other' factors (factors not found on the stranger-acquaintance dimension, e.g. victim/rapist sexual orientation, rapist calls victim names), which were erroneous, sexualizing and homophobic.
