Social Cognitive Processes Underlying Normative Misperception of Sexual Judgments.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Criminology
• Public Health

Background:

• Acquaintance-initiated sexually aggressive behavior (SAB) is a significant issue on college campuses, with current interventions showing limited success.
• Peer social norms and cognitive factors in sexual decision-making are independently linked to SAB.
• Integrating these factors is crucial for understanding and addressing SAB.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how perspective (self vs. typical college male) influences judgments of unwanted sexual advances' justifiability.
• To identify cognitive processes underlying men's misperceptions of sexual advances.
• To assess rape-supportive attitudes (RSA) as a correlate of these cognitive processes.

Main Methods:

• 217 college men completed the Heterosocial Perception Survey-Revised from self and typical male perspectives.
• Judgments assessed the justifiability of escalating sexual advances against negative responses.
• Participants also completed questionnaires on rape-supportive attitudes (RSA) and demographics.

Main Results:

• Undergraduate men, particularly those with higher RSA, significantly overestimated the typical male peer's perception of nonconsensual behavior as justified.
• Three cognitive processes were strongly implicated in this perceptual misjudgment.
• RSA correlated significantly with these cognitive processes when men responded from their own perspective.

Conclusions:

• Perspective significantly impacts the perceived justifiability of sexual advances, especially for men endorsing higher RSA.
• Cognitive processes mediate the link between perspective, RSA, and misperceptions of peer sexual judgments.
• Findings support integrating social norms and cognitive processing for interventions targeting sexual misperceptions to reduce SAB risk.