Drawing on insights from moral psychology, we examine the influence of moral intuitions on Americans’ divergent reactions to reports of sexual assault and harassment. We hypothesize that Americans whose moral intuitions emphasize care and protection of the vulnerable will show a greater willingness to believe reports of sexual assault and harassment, while those whose moral intuitions emphasize social order and cohesion will show greater skepticism toward such reports. Using data from a nationally representative sample of USA adults (N =1050), we find strong support for both hypotheses. We also find that the influence of moral intuitions on reactions to reports of sexual assault and harassment is partially mediated by respondents’ willingness to attribute responsibility to victims of sex crimes. Our results hold when females and males are examined separately. The study provides compelling evidence that a moral intuitionist approach is useful for understanding Americans’ divergent reactions to reports of sexual assault and harassment.

借鉴道德心理学的见解，我们研究了道德直觉对美国人对性侵犯和骚扰报道的不同反应的影响。我们假设道德直觉强调对弱势群体的关怀和保护的美国人会更愿意相信有关性侵犯和性骚扰的报道，而道德直觉强调社会秩序和凝聚力的美国人会对此类报道表现出更大的怀疑。使用来自美国成年人的全国代表性样本的数据 ( N=1050），我们发现这两个假设都得到了强有力的支持。我们还发现，道德直觉对性侵犯和骚扰报告的反应的影响部分是由受访者将责任归咎于性犯罪受害者的意愿所介导的。当分别检查女性和男性时，我们的结果成立。该研究提供了令人信服的证据，表明道德直觉主义方法有助于理解美国人对性侵犯和性骚扰报道的不同反应。