Previous research has shown a strong bias for laypersons to
believe alcohol use and aggression to go hand-in-hand (see Quigley &
Leonard, 2006 ). Furthermore, research has shown that alcohol use can be seen
as a mitigating circumstance for aggression, resulting in a reduction of blame
and accountability (Bullock, 2002 ; Katz & Arias, 2001 ; Tryggvesson, 2004
).
The present study investigated observers' judgments of
intimate partner violence (IPV) when the perpetrator was under the influence of
alcohol. We hypothesized that participants would view violent behavior as more
common and less abusive if they thought the perpetrator was under the influence
of alcohol.
College students (n = 79) viewed a video depicting an
increasingly abusive interaction between college-age dating partners (see Witte
& Kendra, 2010 ) and half of the participants were lead to believe that the
perpetrator was drinking alcohol prior to the interaction. Participants rated
the videotaped vignette at four timepoints to assess the degree to which they
believed the interaction was normal/common and abusive.
Observers judged the abusive behavior as more common and
less abusive when alcohol was involved, but only for psychologically abusive
behaviors and moderately severe physically abusive behaviors.
The results of this study provide support for the
notion that direct observers of IPV judge moderately abusive behavior as more
common and less abusive when alcohol is involved. With this, theories
concerning alcohol expectancies and interpretations of interpersonal violence
can be more readily applied to real-life scenarios, such as in the validity of
eye-witness testimony.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/jS52L4
- 1 Department of Human Development and Family Studies , University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , Alabama , USA.
- 2 Department of Psychology , University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , Alabama , USA.
- 3 Department of Psychology , University of Mississippi , Oxford , Mississippi , USA.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv_insight
No comments:
Post a Comment