Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 25, 2026
09:12
The Resident-intruder Paradigm: A Standardized Test for Aggression, Violence and Social Stress
Published on: July 4, 2013
Self-defense or assertiveness training and women's responses to sexual attacks
Leanne R Brecklin1, Sarah E Ullman
1Criminal Justice Department, University of Illinois at Springfield, 62703-5407, USA. LBREC1@uis.edu
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
|April 27, 2005
Summary
Women who received self-defense training before a rape attack were more likely to resist effectively and experienced less fear during the assault. This training enhanced their physical and psychological responses to sexual violence.
Area of Science:
- Criminology
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Violence against women remains a significant concern.
- Self-defense training aims to empower women but its impact on actual assault responses is under-researched.
- Understanding the effects of assertiveness and self-defense training on rape victims' responses is crucial for prevention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between preassault self-defense or assertiveness training and women's responses during rape attacks.
- To examine the influence of such training on women's physical and psychological reactions to sexual assault.
- To determine if training affects victims' perceptions of their resistance and its effectiveness.
Main Methods:
- A multivariate analysis was conducted on a sample of 1,623 women who experienced rape attacks.
- The study compared the responses of victims with preassault training to those without.
- Data collected included information on physical and psychological responses during the assault and perceived effectiveness of resistance.
Main Results:
- Victims with preassault training were more likely to report that their resistance deterred the offender or reduced their aggression.
- Trained women reported higher levels of anger and lower levels of fear during the assault compared to untrained women.
- Participants with training perceived their level of non-consent or resistance as lower, potentially due to higher personal standards.
Conclusions:
- Self-defense and assertiveness training appear to positively influence women's responses during rape attacks.
- Training may enhance a victim's likelihood of fighting back and alter their emotional state during an assault.
- Further research is recommended to refine rape prevention strategies incorporating self-defense training.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:47Aggression
Humans engage in aggression when they seek to cause harm or pain to another person. Aggression takes two forms depending on one’s motives: hostile or instrumental. Hostile aggression is motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain; a fight in a bar with a stranger is an example of hostile aggression. In contrast, instrumental aggression is motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain (Berkowitz, 1993); a contract killer who murders for hire...
02:09Bystander Effect
The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.
01:23Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
In a study where individuals posing as strangers offered compliments and proposed casual sex to students, the responses differed significantly based on gender. Not a single woman accepted the proposal, while 70% of the men agreed. This outcome provides a useful scenario to explore through the lens of evolutionary psychology and social learning theory, highlighting the diverse perspectives on human sexual behaviors.
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
01:14Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning and learned helplessness are critical concepts in understanding behavioral responses to negative stimuli.
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
01:26Modeling in Therapy
Modeling, a key technique in therapy, uses observational learning to help clients acquire and practice new skills by watching therapists demonstrate desired behaviors. This approach, rooted in Albert Bandura's concept of vicarious learning, plays a significant role in therapeutic interventions for various psychological conditions, including social anxiety, ADHD, and depression.
Participant Modeling
Participant modeling involves therapists demonstrating calm and effective behaviors in situations...
Participant Modeling
Participant modeling involves therapists demonstrating calm and effective behaviors in situations...
01:27Protecting Self-Esteem
Self-esteem, a central component of psychological well-being, is actively maintained through various cognitive and behavioral strategies. Individuals employ specific mechanisms to preserve a positive self-concept and mitigate threats to their self-worth, particularly in contexts involving social evaluation or personal feedback. Four primary techniques are commonly used to sustain self-esteem.Manipulating AppraisalsOne prominent strategy involves manipulating appraisals from others. Individuals...