Intuitive Blaming of Peeping Toms Versus Cyber Peepers

In a series of studies, we examine the existence and factors underlying a blaming discrepancy between responses to a cyber peeper and to a peeping Tom. The first study demonstrates reduced blame for a cyber peeper, and the subsequent eight studies hone in on major differences between the cyber peeping and peeping Tom scenarios that may contribute to a blaming discrepancy, such as the effort involved on the part of the peeper and the risk-taking on the part of the victim. Four of eight such factors are found to impact blame. We then compare responses to cyber peeping and peeping Tom scenarios that are roughly matched on these four factors to assess whether such matching equalizes blame. Finally, we compare blame for the viewing of a private nude photo on the Internet with blame for the viewing of a private nude photo printed on paper in order to assess whether blame is influenced by the involvement of Internet technology itself, rather than by the other factors the technology brings with it.