Magnitude scaling of intensity of sexual refusal behaviors in a date rape

Two studies examined college students' perceptions of the intensity of a woman's refusal behaviors in a date-rape situation. In Experiment 1, male and female college students were exposed to 15-second segments of an audiotape of a dramatized date rape in a random, context-free sequence. In Experiment 2, the vignette segments were presented in a natural story-line sequence. Using a magnitude-scaling procedure, participants in both studies rated the intensity of the woman's desire for the man to stop making sexual advances, after each tape segment. Intensity ratings in neither experiment varied in a monotonic manner with tape segment. Analyses also revealed similar ratings of refusal intensity across studies. Moreover, males and females did not differ in perceptions of refusal intensity. Implications of the findings are discussed.