Religion and Victim Blame in Sexual Assault Cases
Evidence of the Black Sheep Effect
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21644037 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathryn Sperry (0000-0002-6492-4304, Weber State University, corresponding author), Madison Arave (0009-0001-0447-9472, Weber State University), Layla Manzanares (0009-0003-3250-8968, Weber State University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 10778012261461595-10778012261461595 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Violence Against Women (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1077-8012 • E-ISSN: 1552-8448 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10778012261461595 |
| PMID | 42312344 |
| OpenAlex | W7165176911 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 47 |
The black sheep effect (BSE) occurs when “deviant” ingroup members are judged more negatively compared to deviant outgroup members. We tested the BSE in the context of perceptions of rape victims. In a 4 (participant religion) × 3 (victim religion) × 2 (gender) between-subjects design ( N = 760), Latter-Day Saints (LDS) (Mormon) participants blamed the LDS victim more than the Catholic victim. Utah LDS participants had higher negative affect toward the LDS victim compared to the Catholic victim. Catholic participants did not show this pattern, suggesting a need to examine additional contextual factors, including religious salience and cultural tightness. Implications are discussed
Affect (linguistics) · Blame · Ingroups and outgroups · Outgroup · Poison control · Salience (neuroscience) · Sexual assault · Suicide prevention · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology
The Belief in a Just World
Tightness–looseness across the 50 united states
A review of the literature relating to rape victim blaming
Attribution of blame in cases of rape
Examining the Relationship Between Male Rape Myth Acceptance, Female Rape Myth Acceptance, Victim Blame, Homophobia, Gender Roles, and Ambivalent Sexism
Attribution of blame in rape cases
Development and validation of the Religious Collective Self-Esteem Scale for Children
The Duke University Religion Index (Durel)
An Updated Measure for Assessing Subtle Rape Myths
Self-esteem, ingroup favoritism, and outgroup evaluations
Research
The Effect of Participant Sex, Victim Dress, and Traditional Attitudes on Causal Judgments for Marital Rape Victims
Ambivalent Sexism, Scriptural Literalism, and Religiosity
Club Drug Use and Intentionality in Perceptions of Rape Victims
A Religious Paradox
Beyond Christianity
Ambivalent Sexism and Religion
Effects of Ingroup Bias and Gender Role Violations on Acquaintance Rape Attributions
But She Was Unfaithful
In-group favoritism or black sheep effect? The moderating role of norm strength on destination residents’ responses towards deviant behaviors
Rape Myth Acceptance
The “Black Sheep Effect”
The black sheep effect
Morality's role in the Black Sheep Effect
The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory
The Index of Cultural Tightness and Looseness Among 68 Countries
Perceptions of stranger and acquaintance rape
Cultural myths and supports for rape
Defensive attribution
Rape Myths
The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness
Veiled Submission
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |