to provide a more direct test [of the hypothesis that the threat of rape has an intimidating effect on women in general than that provided by correlation evidence], we conducted a series of experiments, using experimental procedures borrowed from social cognition research, in which we assessed the impact of the threat of rape on women's self-esteem, their trust in others, and their perception of personal control [and sex-role attitudes] / [Ss were female students at a US university] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved) (from the chapter)