Truth Effect Meets Anti-Rape Attitudes: Repetition Leads to Increased Endorsement of Facts and Prosocial Beliefs about Rape

• In Event: WCCJ Panel 6 – Rape, Credibility and Consent

Abstract

The repetition-based truth effect is a well-documented psychological effect referring to the robust observation that repeated statements are more likely to be believed than new ones. The effect can for instance, provide an explanation for why fake news is so persistent, and conspiracy theories are hard to debunk. In the context of sexual violence, rape myths are often challenged in a myth-versus-fact manner. However, the repetition-based truth effects implies that the repetition of the myth can result in such myths actually being more easily believed and remembered. We propose the same mechanism can be used to instill and boost anti-rape attitudes.

For this research, we developed a new measure of anti-rape attitudes based on 'myth debunking' material, expert feedback, and three online validation studies. The resulting 19 items were used as stimulus material in experimental studies to test the repetition-based truth effect with statements condemning non-consensual sex and providing truthful information about rape and its victims and perpetrators. A significant difference was found in that respondents reported higher agreement with the items of the scale that they had seen previously than with those that they had read for the first time.

This is the first study to find the truth effect applied to attitudes towards sexual violence, and its potential to change these attitudes. Implications for further research and possible prevention approaches are discussed.

Authors

• Evelyn Schapansky, Ghent University

• Arne Roets, Department of Developmental, Personality & Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium

• Christophe Vandeviver, Ghent University