NCJ Number
95963
Journal
Victimology Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (1984) Pages: 262-272
Date Published
1984
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Recent proposals to use informational campaigns to remove public rape misconceptions take for granted the assumption that these are effective instruments resulting in success.
Abstract
Here this assumption is critically tested on the basis of a model in which a rape misconception is operationalized as an opinion-discrepancy between communicator and receiver and functionally related to their respective 'weights'. When this model is applied to the misconception that rape victims are themselves chiefly responsible for their fate it is concluded that campaigns run a high risk of strengthening it. Several strategies to avoid this boomerang effect are discussed. (Author abstract)