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Evaluation of College Students’ Implicit Biases Toward Believability of Claims of Sexual Harassment Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP)

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Abstract

The present study sought to measure potential implicit biases regarding modest and revealing clothing worn by college-age females reporting sexual harassment in terms of the believability of the claim using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure. In addition, participants’ responding in public and private experimental conditions was compared. Results were analyzed to determine if implicit biases regarding the believability of sexual harassment complainants related to their clothing were observed. No significant difference was found between the private and public contexts, F(1, 46) = 0.7780, p = 0.3824. A significant bias in favor of women dressed in modest clothing was observed in the overall scores for the public context, t(23) = 5.272, p < 0.0001; additional analyses for individual trial types are included. These results may suggest that, although participants did not demonstrate significant bias against women dressed in revealing clothes, a bias in favor of women dressed modestly was present. This study produced preliminary data that may be indicative of an increased likelihood of a claim of sexual harassment/assault being observed as “believable” when the claimant’s clothes are of a more modest fashion.

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The data from the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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  1. Psychology Department, Missouri State University, MO, Springfield, USA

    Dana Paliliunas & Chynna B. Frizell

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  1. Dana Paliliunas
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  2. Chynna B. Frizell
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Correspondence to Dana Paliliunas.

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Paliliunas, D., Frizell, C.B. Evaluation of College Students’ Implicit Biases Toward Believability of Claims of Sexual Harassment Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Behav. Soc. Iss. 30, 733–748 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-021-00061-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-021-00061-3

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