University of Twente Student Theses
Psychological abuse in the context of control and coercion : Investigating how severity of abuse and denial of the victim influence the tendency to blame the victim
Schomaker, Charleen (2024) Psychological abuse in the context of control and coercion : Investigating how severity of abuse and denial of the victim influence the tendency to blame the victim.
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| Abstract: | Control and coercion is a form of intimate partner violence that has been prosecuted in the UK since 2015. One of the measures used in investigating a case of this type of abuse is interviewing the suspect. However, conversations with the investigator offer many opportunities for the suspect to influence the investigation. One of these influence behaviors is the use of denial of the victim arguments, which are intended to portray the victim as the perpetrator. Therefore, this study investigated how the denial of the victim arguments and the perceived severity of the abuse influenced the tendency to blame the victim. Additionally, it was examined how societal beliefs, such as belief in a just world and sexist attitudes affect this relationship. The participants of this study received a randomly distributed fictitious description and an investigative interview about a control and coercion case, with varying severity of abuse (moderate or high), and suspect justifications (denial of the victim arguments or no comment). The study results found that denial of the victim arguments lead to increased victim blame and decreased suspect blame, perceived guilt of the suspect, and veracity of stated allegations by the victim. Furthermore, the moderation analysis revealed that the belief in a just world increased suspect blame and perceived guilt, but only for the case description with high severity of abuse. In addition, hostile sexism increased victim blame, decreased suspect blame, perceived guilt, and veracity of allegations. Similar to benevolent sexism which led to increased victim blame and decreased suspect blame. These insights underscore the need for interventions to address suspect justifications and societal biases, aiming to reduce victim blaming and improve support for survivors of intimate partner violence. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/102139 |
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