ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1525006
This article is part of the Research TopicBystanders' Roles in Workplace Bullying: Impacts and InterventionsView all articles
Experimental Study of Factors Influencing Observers' Perceptions and Reactions to Sexual Harassment in Chinese University Students
Provisionally accepted
- Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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Sexual harassment, a pervasive form of gender-based violence, inflicts profound adverse effects on survivors. Observers' perceptions and responses critically shape subsequent attitudes and behaviors. A systematic comprehension of the determinants that influence observers' perception of harassment, as well as tendencies for victim-blaming and sympathy, is crucial for devising efficacious intervention strategies. However, existing research on these factors is fragmented, and studies within the Chinese context are notably scarce. This study employed an experimental approach to examine factors influencing observers' perceptions and reactions to sexual harassment in China, including the type of harassment (gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, or sexual coercion), observer gender, and observer characteristics (empathy, moral sensitivity, willingness to engage in feminist behaviors, sexism, sexual narcissism, sexual harassment myths, and tolerance of sexual harassment). The type of harassment and the gender of the observers influenced their perception of harassment, emotional response, the level of blame attributed to the victims, and their sympathy toward the victims' suffering. Observer characteristics further modulated perceptions and reactions, bifurcating into two distinct systems. Observers with heightened empathy, moral sensitivity, and feminist action readiness (the positive system) exhibited increased sensitivity, emotional connection, sympathy, and reduced victim-blaming. Conversely, those with elevated sexism, sexual narcissism, sexual harassment myth endorsement, and harassment tolerance (the negative system) demonstrated diminished sensitivity, emotional engagement, sympathy, and augmented victim-blaming. The findings indicate that effective interventions to prevent and reduce sexual harassment should address the underlying beliefs and values shaping how individuals perceive and respond to such incidents.
Keywords: Sexual Harassment, Empathy, Sexism, Feminism, victim blaming
Received: 08 Nov 2024; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Lai and Xin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fei Xin, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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