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The Role of Ambiguity and Gender in Mediating the Effects of Salient Cognitions

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Lee A. Jackson

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Garry J. Smith

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

The purpose of the present research was to assess the effects of the simultaneous occurrence of two potential moderators of the perceptual-biasing effects of salient cognitions. These moderating factors were ambiguity of the behavioral information and individual differences (gender). The design was a 2 (salience-salient, nonsalient) X 2 (ambiguity-ambiguous, relatively unambiguous) X 2 gender (male, female) factorial. One-half of the subjects were exposed to information focusing on the inappropriateness of sexual inequality (salient condition), whereas the other half were not exposed to such information (nonsalient condition). Subsequently, subjects read a passage that depicted an acquaintance rape in which the female clearly (relatively unambiguous condition) or did not clearly (ambiguous condition) convey her lack of consent to intercourse. The results indicated that salience had minimal effects in the relatively unambiguous condition. In the ambiguous condition, the effects of salience were moderated by gender. Implications for research focusing on moderators of salient stimuli and modification of negative perceptions of rape were discussed.

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