Embarrassment and observer intervention in cases of sexual harassment

Although victims of sexual harassment often desire support and help from others, research has found a lack of observer intervention. We demonstrate that observers’ forecasting errors of the victim’s emotional response to intervention cause an intrapersonal conflict that may explain their hesitation to intervene. Across two pre-registered studies, we demonstrate that observers of sexual harassment overpredict the level of embarrassment victims experience in response to intervention, which we argue initiates an intrapersonal conflict on how to respond to such harassment. Study 1 compares observer predictions of victim embarrassment between observers who chose to intervene and those who did not. Study 2 utilizes a hypothetical scenario to examine the differences between observer and victim predictions of embarrassment associated with observer intervention. Combined, our results indicate that observer predictions of the level of embarrassment the victim would feel as a result of their intervention can impede them from taking action.