That’s What Friends Are For

Abstract

The present research examined bystander responses to potential party rape scenarios involving either a friend or a stranger at risk. Undergraduate students (N = 151) imagined attending a party and seeing a man lead an intoxicated woman (friend or stranger) into a bedroom. After random assignment to conditions, participants reported on intentions to help, barriers to helping, victim blame, and empathic concern. As expected, based on their shared social group membership, bystanders intended to offer more help to friends than to strangers. Bystanders also reported more personal responsibility to help and more empathic concern when the potential victim was a friend rather than stranger. Observing a friend versus stranger at risk did not affect audience inhibition or perceived victim blame. Compared with women, men reported more blame and less empathic concern for potential victims. However, there were no gender differences in bystander intent to help or barriers to helping. In multivariate analyses, both responsibility to help and empathic concern for the potential victim uniquely predicted bystanders' intent to help a woman at risk for party rape. Results suggest that promoting social identification with peers at risk could increase bystander intervention.

You see but you do not observe: A review of bystander intervention and sexual assault on university campuses

“…-Efficacy refers to one's confidence in their ability to intervene -Bystander efficacy was measured using the bystander efficacy scale Amar et al, 2014;Banyard, 2008;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Brosi et al, 2011;Exner & Cummings, 2011;Foubert, 2013;Foubert et al, 2011 Bystander Intent -Bystander intent is the likelihood or willingness of a bystander intervening in a sexual assault -Bystander intent is measured using the bystander intent scale Amar et al, 2014;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Banyard et al, 2014;Brosi et al, 2011;Brown & Messman-Moore, 2010;Foubert, 2013;Foubert et al, 2011;Hust et al, 2013;Katz et al, 2013;Katz et al, 2014;McMahon & Farmer, 2009;Nicksa, 2013 Bystander Behavior -Bystander behavior measures actual behaviors one has used when intervening in a sexual assault -Bystander behavior is measured using the bystander behavior scale Amar et al, 2014;Banyard, 2008;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Banyard et al, 2014;Bennett et al, 2014;Brown et al, 2014;Burn, 2009;Carlson, 2008;Harari et al, 1985;Koelsch et al, 2012;McMahon et al, 2015;Shotland & Stebbins, 1980 attitudes, and societal bias regarding sexual assault (Amar et al, 2014;Lanier & Elliott, 1997). However, it differs in that there are only 20 items using a 5 point Likert scale (Lanier & Elliott, 1997;…”

“…Thirteen studies measured bystander intent (Amar et al, 2014;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Banyard et al, 2014;Brosi et al, 2011;Brown & Messman-Moore, 2010;Foubert, 2013;Foubert et al, 2011;Hust et al, 2013;Katz et al, 2013;Katz et al, 2014;McMahon & Farmer, 2009;Nicksa, 2013). Bystander intent is a self-report on the likelihood to engage in bystander intervention behavior (Banyard & Moynihan, 2011); it provides insight into how factors influence one's willingness to intervene.…”

“…All the bystander factors mention are interrelated, producing a cause and effect relationship, increasing the predictive validity; for example, low rape myths allow an individual to see sexual assault as a problem (Brown & Messman-Moore, 2010;Foubert, 2013;Katz et al, 2014) and increase the sense of responsibility and confidence for intervening (Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Banyard et al, 2014;Katz et al, 2014). Measuring actual bystander behavior could provide the answer in how the other factors influence intervention -see figure 1.…”

“…Nineteen studies examined gender differences in bystander intervention (Amar et al, 2014;Banyard, 2008;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Bennett & Banyard, 2016;Bennett et al, 2014;Brosi et al, 2011;Brown & Messman-Moore, 2010;Carlson, 2008;Exner & Cummings, 2011;Foubert, 2013;Foubert et al, 2011;Harari et al, 1985;Hust et al, 2013;Katz et al, 2014;Koelsch et al, 2012;McMahon, 2010;McMahon et al, 2015;Nicksa, 2013;Shotland & Stebbins, 1980). The effects of gender vary within the different bystander factors (i.e., rape myths, bystander efficacy, bystander intent, and bystander behavior).…”

Bystander Programs: Accommodating or Derailing Sexism?

“…Many of the outcome measures are responses to hypothetical scenarios (vignettes) that equate respondent willingness to intervene with confidence in being a bystander [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Even confident bystanders, however, still may not be able to recognize the often-subtle cues signaling when intervention is needed, assuming they are observant or sober, which is especially important in settings that are often dark and loud.…”