A Carleton PhD student is studying attitudes toward rape and possible links with sexually aggressive behaviour in men.
Chantal Hermann is being supervised by associate psychology professor Kevin Nunes.
Participants are asked to complete a 20-minute online survey containing sets of questions and reaction time measures relating to a participant’s opinion and experiences with aggressive and non-aggressive sexual behaviour. Responses are anonymous.
Hermann said a main purpose for her study is to find what correlation exists between certain attitudes toward rape and sexually aggressive behaviour in men.
“Attitudes are evaluative cognitions; this means attitudes towards rape are evaluations of sexually aggressive behaviour,” Hermann said via email.
She said another purpose is to evaluate whether her method of collecting data is effective.
“We hope to figure out whether our measures of attitudes towards rape are reliable and valid,” she said.
Hermann said her area of study, “rape-supportive cognition,” includes attitudes, beliefs, excuses, and justifications around rape, victims of rape, and women more generally.
These elements can be independent of each other and may have different effects on sexually aggressive behaviour, she said.
“We should examine these possibly different types of cognition separately to see if they are different from each other and if they have unique relationships with sexually aggressive behaviour,” she said.
She said studying these types of thinking is important in understanding sexually aggressive behaviour.
“In theory and research, rape-related cognition is believed to facilitate the commission of sexually-aggressive behaviour,” Hermann said.
The study could have an impact in decreasing incidents of sexual assault, Hermann said.
“This could allow us to more effectively assess these cognitions and target them in both rape-prevention programs and sexual offender treatment,” she said.
Improving assessment and treatment reduces sexual offences, and the risk of re-offending, she said.
Hermann hopes to present her research at the annual conference for the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers next year.
