Attribution Theory

Improved Essays
Introduction
In order to analyse the psychological research surrounding victim blame and intimate partner violence (IPV), this report focus on Feminist and Family Violence perspectives and their links to Attribution Theory due to these being the most relevant within this field.
Victim blame is defined as the phenomenon whereby a victim of crime is deemed at least partly responsible by others within society (Grubb & Turner, 2012). Which throughout this report, will be discussed in relation to instances of intimate partner violence (IPV), which according to the official government definition, is; “any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse [psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional] between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality” (Home Office, 2012). Although this definition encompasses all types of abuse; across gender, sexuality and nature, as physical violence is not always present in IPV (Dixon & Bowen, 2012); the term ‘domestic’ suggests that the offences occur within the home, which is not always the case (Groves & Thomas, 2014). Defensive Attribution Hypothesis The Phenomena of victim blame could be explained by Walster’s (1966) Defensive Attribution Hypothesis, which research shows a wide range of personal, psychological or situational factors and beliefs, such as similarity between the victim and observer can influence the attribution of blame (Shaver, 1970). This research also found that observers with a large gap in age to the victim are more likely to place blame on them, despite them having done nothing to constitute this and that how likely an observer thought they could be in a situation similar themselves, influenced their attribution of blame. These findings support research showing that people believe in a ‘just world’ and that this belief that good things happen to good people, whilst bad people get what is coming to them helps to bring order to the observers own environment (Lerner & Simmons, 1966; Lerner & Miller, 1978).
…show more content…
In an expansion of this research Klenke & Meyer (1990) who cite their use of Rubin & Peplau’s 1975 Belief in a Just World (BJW) Scale alongside mock interviews with alleged rape victims to analyse what type of people are most likely to attribute blame onto innocent victims. The outcome showed that women who scored highly on the BJW scale blamed victims less than women with low scores, whereas men who scored highly saw the victim more negatively. This could be due to the women being more able to identify with the female victim, alongside the consideration that they could be in that situation; a finding which offers further support for Shaver’s (1970) research. It must be considered that this research was done in a clinical setting, therefore reducing its external validity, as these results may be different within a real life situation. The mock interview was also shown to participants within groups, which is likely to influence their responses to align with other group members. There is evidence that men who believe that a woman’s role should align with ‘traditional’ gender roles are most likely to victim blame from an observational point of view or as a perpetrator; justify his actions (Thornton, Ryckman & Robbins, 1982; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1995). However the latter research suggest misogyny within the measurement scales used within their research, therefore to gain a more accurate representation, a more updated, gender neutral scale should be applied. Feminist Perspectives Feminist theorists have a propensity to conceptualise IPV as a crime against women, committed by men as a way of asserting dominance within a relationship as a product of a patriarchal society (Walker, 1989; Dobash et al., 1992). This is evidenced by how victims of IPV are treat; regularly being met with responses ranging from “why didn’t you just leave?” to “you must have pushed his buttons” upon disclosing abuse (Home Office, 2015). This reaction is highly damaging as it not only removes responsibility from known offenders, but could lead to victims being wary of coming forward; a situation rife in society already (Hoyle and Sanders, …show more content…
However, this research fails to take into account female-male IPV whilst the reductionist nature classes all men as capable of abusing their partners (Dutton & Nicholls,

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    This is due in part to the higher association of victim blame in cases of sexual assault versus other various types of crime. Indeed, it is a well-known fact that most sexual assaults and rapes statistics are underreported both for females and males. Grubb & Turner (2006) conducted a review on the impact of rape myth acceptance, gender role conformity, and substance use on victim blame. They note that within the phenomenon of victim blaming literature that there are two key theories that are of significant importance; attribution defensive hypothesis and the just world theory. Both theories suggest negative victim perceptions, either as a defensive mechanism to avoid similarity to the victim or as a result of “overcompensating for an undeserved act” (Grubb & Turner, 2006).…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jackson Katz’s didactic tone emphasizes the gender violence issues in society through the points made “ in the domestic and sexual violence field know [as] victim-blaming” as well as how with “power and privilege, [there is] the ability to go unexamined.” How we think conspires us to keep our attention off of men; instead of pursuing the perpetrator we now follow the victim. We use the violence or pain that has happened to someone to identify/label that person. Victim blaming has become prominent in our society today. The power and privilege that some people hold has allowed them to silence the voices of many.…

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Wennlock Edge Summary

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Tricks” and Wenlock Edge” by Alive Munro both depict two female characters who are shamed by a male figure. The two female characters, Robin and the narrator, both deal with their feelings of shame in different ways but both wish to conform to societal norms. According to the article “The Lives of Women who Experience Male Violence” written by Helen Baker, “shame concerns the relationship of the self with others in society” (5). These two characters feel shame because they went against societal norms, and isolate themselves in order to prevent their shame from going public. Robin and the narrator’s shame comes from societal expectations that are detrimental to women.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Jackson Katz’s solemn diction informs the public about how men should be focused on rather than women when it comes to domestic violence, rape, or other morbid situations by explaining why victim blaming is ineffective and how to influence people to stop thinking discriminatorily. The majority of the public seem to blame victims when it comes to problems. For example in the case of rape, a woman may be shamed for wearing certain clothes or acting a certain way. In reality, the perpetrator should be shamed for committing the action in the first place. To blame the victim is unnecessary, and causes the victim to feel at fault and the problem to stay prominent.…

    • 181 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Milner wrote a journal on domestic violence programmes among men and woman. Programmes has help many men and woman overcome violence over the years. Most violent offenders will try to avoid violent behavior among their wifes or husbands. “The motivation of a violent offender to acknowledge culpability and guilt may be to avoid a long prison sentence or obtain parole, while denial may be due to shame, the desire to maintain an interpersonal relationship, or a way of avoiding humiliation (Milner and Singleton). Many victims of domestic violence are affaird to discuss violence that occurred in their homes or other places they where located.…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Violent offences against women were ignored by the Criminal Justice system for many years. However, feminist criminology has emphasised the importance to raise awareness and to incorporate such offences into normal discussions based on crime (Newburn, 2009). Feminist victimology critiques the concentration on offences in public which neglected violence in private for example at home. A region of ultimate improvement regarding criminal justice concerns violence that women endure. Men were permitted to rape their wives until 1991 when in Britain it was considered an offence - ‘Marital rape’.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The tendency to blame rape victims makes it easier for people to explain why these attacks are so prominent. It is easier to find an excuse to why someone got raped than to recognize our own vulnerability or to rationalize why the assailant conducted such a vulgar act. The Just World Hypothesis explains that women get raped not because of the fault of others but because it is a way for the universe to “even” out the playing field (Rape Crisis Information Pathfinder, n.d.). “The greater harm means that harshly punishing the perpetrator isn’t sufficient to restore a ‘just world.’ To do that, we may need to cast the victim as partially responsible (Benforado, 2016, p.18).”…

    • 1348 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many years ago when a woman was beaten by her spouse, people would call it wife beating. Today the beating of a partner is now called Intimate Partner Violence. The name was changed to IPV because in today’s society we acknowledge all types of partner violence. Violence could be wife on husband, husband on wife, or partner on partner.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Masculinity In Canada

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Domestic violence is described by Statistic Canada as a “range of abusive behaviors that occur within a relationship based on kinship, intimacy, dependency, or trust”. This definition includes many forms of violence, including physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, financial, or neglect (Statistics Canada, 2013). In 2014, there was a total of 759,665 victims of self-reported spousal or intimate partner violence. This number is significantly lower than reported in any other census, thus allowing me to form the assertion that while the number is decreasing, it is still prominent. Within this data, Quebec and Ontario had a higher amount of reported victims than in any other province and had been that way for the last five years thus allowing me to narrow my research on one of these two provinces.(Statistics Canada, 2014).…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The statistics are staggering 10-69% of women have been exposed to physical violence at some point in their lives . Violence can come in many forms from psychological to physical. A major problem that causes long-term mental and physical health is the impacts of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Intimate partner violence can be defined as “violence refers to actual or threatened physical, sexual, or psychological violence perpetrated by current or former partners” according to the Journal of Women’s Health.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Barriers to Leaving an Abusive Partner Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most common abusive behavior that occurs within an intimate relationship. IPV occurs in all social groups, irrespective of gender, race, socioeconomic status, culture, and sexual orientation. Although women can be aggressive in their relationship with men and sometimes violence can permeate same-sex relationships, the overwhelming global burden of IPV is more likely to be borne by females. Individuals with no prior experience in IPV often find it perplexing to fathom why victims of abuse contend with it for years. At the heart of this paradox is usually the question, “Why doesn't the victim leave?”…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Intimate Partner Violence

    • 1837 Words
    • 8 Pages

    CHAPTER 4: INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: SATISFICING OR MAXIMIZING? EXAMINING INDICATORS OF RELATIONSHIP COMMITMENT After decades of research, the devastating, systemic effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States are undeniable (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000; Davis, 2013; Morrison, Luchok, Richter, & Parra-Medina, 2006; Stith, McCollum, Rosen, Locke, & Goldberg, 2005). The literature suggests a variety of physical, psychological, and social impacts that women experience in association with intimate partner violence (Johnson & Ferraro, 2000; Straus, 2007). With such substantial and convincing evidence of harmful outcomes, researchers and advocates alike, have been curious to understand why victims stay in IPV relationships (Hendy,…

    • 1837 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In The Social Dynamics of Family Violence by Angela Hattery and Earl Smith, they state that “intimate partner violence refers tot he physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse that takes place between intimate partners…between two people who claim or claimed to love each other” (Hattery and Smith 205). Intimate partner violence in a heterosexual relationship can be summarized as a person’s desire to control the power in relationship and force women to be dependent on the man. “There are 2.5 to 4.5 million physical assaults inflicted on adult women by their intimate partner per year” (Hattery and Smith 203). This estimation is believed to be less than what may actually occur because domestic abuse is not sufficiently reported to authorities. A reason as to why women do not fully report these crimes could be that they do not see themselves as a victim, knowledge that an actual crime was committed against them, or simply because they believe that it was a one time incident that will not happen again and they want to forgive their partner.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Furthermore, Katz points out that this terminology shifts the focus and sense of responsibility away from men, particularly the male perpetrators of the violence. Instead, a disproportionate amount of attention is placed on the female victim, and this frequently results in victim-blaming. Katz explains that “our cognitive structure is set up to blame victims. This is all unconscious. Our whole cognitive structure is set up to ask questions about women and women’s choices and what they’re doing, thinking, wearing” (Katz 2012).…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    What is Domestic Violence? Domestic Violence is also called intimate partner violence is a serious public health concern because it affects the most important unit of society, which is the family. Unlike other forms of violent crime across social interaction, violence within the household occurs amongst individuals with intimate and trustworthy relationships. The term ‘domestic violence’ is defined as patterns of abuse in a relationship in order to gain or maintain power over the victim.…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays