Abstract

Psychological research into perceptions of sexual attacks, rape myths and scripts usually involves questionnaires or qualitative reports. A new method for investigating the perceived dynamic sequence of behaviours between victim and attacker could help to outline common perceptions. The current study uses a Behaviour Sequence Analysis approach to investigate females’ perceptions of the interaction between a female victim and unknown, male attacker. A sample of females were asked to report their perceptions of the interaction between a female and stranger at night, leading-up to a rape attack. Results indicated that females did not perceive weapons or excessive force to be likely behaviours. Also, females responded that most attackers would begin by first attempting to engage a female in conversation. An important contribution of the current research is to show temporal associations between behaviours. In addition, the current research highlights the strength of sequence analysis for understanding perceptions of dynamic patterns of violent behaviours.