Perspective Taking, Gender, and Legal Instructions in a Sexual Harassment Case

We examined the roles of legal standards, perspective taking, and gender on sexual harassment judgments. Two-hundred and seventy-three undergraduates were randomly assigned to instruction and timing conditions in a 2 (participant sex)x4 (legal standard/perspective-taking instruction)x2 (timing of instructions) between-subjects factorial design. Perspective taking predicted verdicts and harassment ratings. Women more frequently found in favor of the female plaintiff than men, and these sex differences were mediated by perspective taking. Participants given instructions on reasonableness were less likely to find in favor of the plaintiff than those given no instructions on reasonableness, and timing of instructions impacted verdicts.