Mediators of perceptions of responsibility for crimes of passion [abstract]

Abstract

College-aged participants evaluated a collection of gender-neutral crime scenarios and personality measures designed to clarify the roles of gender, culture of honor, and attributional style as mediators of perceptions of criminal responsibility when reacting to crimes of passion (those committed in a passionate act of rage or heartbreak, rather than premeditated). It is hypothesized that (a) situational attributions will be higher for crimes of passion when compared to other non-passion crimes; (b) people with a stronger situational attribution style will evaluate the crime of passion perpetrators as less responsible for their actions; (c) people with a high culture of honor ethos will evaluate the crime of passion perpetrators as less responsible for their actions; (d) males will attribute less personal responsibility when evaluating crimes of passion prompted by sexual infidelity while females will attribute less personal responsibility when evaluating crimes of passion prompted by emotional infidelity.