Abstract

Extending Fischoff, we used vignettes to examine people's perceptions of a hypothetical rap fan accused of murder. Study 1 (N = 300) used a 2 (murder accusation) x 2 (inclusion of rap lyrics) x 2 (fan gender) experiment, asking participants to judge how capable of murder and sexually aggressive they found the fan. The presentation of lyrics and murder accusation were associated with the fan being more capable of murder, while rap lyrics and participants' rap attitudes were associated with the fan being more sexually aggressive. Thematic analysis revealed that, in conditions containing both the lyrics and the murder accusation, participants reported greater consideration of the rap lyrics than the murder accusation when rating the fan. Then, Study 2 (N = 504) used a 3 (criminal accusation) x 5 (genre label) experiment to separate the influence of the lyrics from the genre label and further interrogate criminal stereotypes. Holding more positive rap attitudes was associated with the fan being less capable of murder and less sexually aggressive. Importantly, a content analysis revealed that 86% of participants ascribed the lyrics as rap, even with a different label. These findings demonstrate the pervasiveness and salience of rap-related stereotypes on character judgements.

Department(s)

Psychological Science

Publication Status

Open Access

Keywords and Phrases

juror judgements; music preference; rap genre; rap lyrics; stereotypes

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1741-3087; 0305-7356

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2026 SAGE Publications, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Publication Date

01 Jan 2026

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Psychology Commons

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