Title

The prevalence of myths and misconceptions surrounding sexual harassment in England and Wales poses significant challenges to addressing and mitigating its impacts. While accounting for age and gender, this study explores how psychosocial characteristics such as psychopathy and self-esteem influence people's perceptions about these kinds of myths and fallacies. 199 responses were gained using online survey methodology and the potential associations between attitudes regarding sexual harassment and psychological and sociodemographic characteristics were examined using the Sexual Harassment Attitude Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale, and the Psychopathic Personality Trait scale. Whilst prior studies have found a link between psychopathic personality traits and rape myths, no study to date has examined this among sexual harassment myths specifically. Statistical analysis revealed that males and those with lower cognitive empathy held more problematic views on sexual harassment. The study's conclusion addresses how these findings might impact public policy, education, and intervention in an effort to decrease the incidence of sexual harassment. It will also advance our knowledge of risk factors and characteristics of those who are most likely to endorse sexual harassment beliefs and, as a result, be targeted.