For 30 Years, the Community of Wichita, Kansas, Was Haunted-And

For 30 years, the community of Wichita, Kansas, was haunted-and taunted-by a serial killer who dubbed himself the BTK killer, which stood for "bind, torture, kill." In February of 2005, a break in the case came when Wichita police arrested Dennis Rader, aged 59, a city inspector, former Boy Scout leader, and church council president who was married with two adult children. Based on what you learned in the social psychology chapter, which of the following statements explains how Rader escaped detection for so many years?

A) Strong feelings of ethnocentrism convinced people that the BTK killer was someone from outside their community.
B) Diffusion of responsibility allowed people to psychologically distance themselves from the people murdered by BTK.
C) Rader contradicted the implicit personality theory that people have for a serial killer.
D) People have a strong, natural tendency to blame the victims for contributing to their fate rather than the person who murdered them.