University of Twente Student Theses
The attribution of blame in cases of control and coercion within intimate relationships
Gallmeister, David (2023) The attribution of blame in cases of control and coercion within intimate relationships.
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| Abstract: | Controlling and coercive behaviour is a form of intimate partner violence that is especially detrimental to the victim’s mental health. Prosecuting these cases is difficult as there is often lack of objective evidence which makes investigative interviews the most important opportunity to gather evidence against the suspect. Suspects are highly manipulative and make use of argumentation techniques that influence decision making of the interrogator. This study’s focus lays on the effectiveness of denial of the victim and denial of injury arguments in decreasing guilt judgement of the suspect, attributions of blame towards the suspect, perceived seriousness of the behaviour, and suggested sentence. Oftentimes, holding sexist attitudes or believing in a just world is associated with attributing more blame to the victim. This study tested whether the effectiveness of the suspects arguments depend on whether the recipient of the argument holds sexist beliefs or higher beliefs in a just world. Participants of this study filled out an online questionnaire containing a neutral description of the controlling and coercive behaviour case and a vignette of the interrogation which was, randomly assigned, either a vignette in which the suspect used denial of injury or denial of the victim arguments. The main findings of this study were that denial of the victim arguments and denial of injury arguments decreased attribution of blame to the suspect, perceived seriousness of the behaviour, and suggested sentence, but not guilt judgement. Sexism and belief in a just world led to more effectiveness of the denial of injury and denial of the victim claims by the suspect. |
| 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/96725 |
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