AN EMPATHY PRIME STUDY OF NARCISSISM AND RAPE MYTH ACCEPTANCE AMONG HETEROSEXUAL COLLEGE MALES

An estimated 20-25% of women are sexually assaulted during college (Krebs et al., 2007). College males report sexual assault perpetration at rates as high as 61% (Abbey et al., 2006). Rape myth acceptance (RMA) is defined as maintaining false, prejudicial beliefs about rape (Burt, 1980). It is associated with sexual assault perpetration and likelihood of committing rape (e.g., Tharp et al., 2012). Narcissism has been linked to campus sexual assault perpetration (e.g., Mouilso & Calhoun, 2016). Empathy manipulation studies have shown decreased likelihood of committing sexual assault (e.g., Foubert & Newberry, 2006). However, deficient empathy is a core feature of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and narcissistic traits were not measured in such studies. In the present study, a sample of 74 heterosexual undergraduate men completed measures of empathy, grandiose narcissism, pathological narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, and sexual narcissism. In an empathy priming procedure, participants read a date rape vignette and completed a brief writing task. Participants were randomly assigned to either the “empathy group,” in which empathy was primed through instructions to “put yourself in the woman’s shoes,” or to the “objective group,” in which participants were instructed to remain detached. Then, RMA was measured. My findings show that empathy negatively predicted RMA, and narcissism positively predicted RMA. Pathological narcissism significantly interacted with experimental condition to predict RMA such that among individuals who were low on pathological narcissism, RMA scores were lower in the empathy group compared to the objective group. Conversely, among individuals who were high on pathological narcissism, RMA scores were higher in the empathy group compared to the objective group. The same pattern was found for vulnerable narcissism interacting with group to predict RMA. My study confirms previous findings that empathy and narcissism are related to RMA. The results suggest that empathy priming may decrease RMA among college males who score low on pathological or vulnerable narcissism; but surprisingly, for those high on pathological or vulnerable narcissism, empathy priming may increase RMA. These data highlight the importance of considering personality traits when developing sexual assault prevention programs, as empathy priming may incur serious repercussions among certain populations.