Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
09:55
Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder
Published on: March 8, 2018
How People Respond to Simulated Disclosures of Non-Physical Intimate Partner Violence.
Ryan Ver Maas1, Barbara M Masser1, Kari E James1
1The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
Violence Against Women
|June 15, 2026
Summary
Friends and family often receive disclosures of intimate partner violence (IPV), but responses to non-physical abuse are unclear. Study found supporters prioritized problem-solving, with more concern for female victims, suggesting a need for balanced emotional and action-oriented support training.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent, with victim-survivors frequently disclosing experiences to informal support networks.
- Limited research exists on how friends and family respond to disclosures of non-physical IPV, such as verbal and monitoring abuse.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the types of support provided by informal disclosure-recipients in response to simulated non-physical intimate partner violence.
- To identify patterns in responses based on the gender of the victim-survivor.
Main Methods:
- Transcribed verbal responses from 28 participants were analyzed using thematic analysis.
- Participants reacted to a simulated disclosure of verbal and monitoring abuse from either a male or female victim-survivor.
Main Results:
- Three primary support themes emerged: identifying abuse, resolving the situation, and acknowledging the victim.
- Participants predominantly focused on problem-solving strategies.
- Greater concern was expressed for female victim-survivors, although abuse was condemned regardless of gender.
Conclusions:
- Informal supporters tend to prioritize action-oriented responses over emotional validation.
- Training may be beneficial for informal supporters to help them balance problem-solving with empathetic emotional support for victim-survivors of intimate partner violence.
Related Concept Videos
02:12Relationship Formation
What do you think is the single most influential factor in determining with whom you become friends and whom you form romantic relationships? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is simple: the people with whom you have the most contact. This most important factor is proximity. You are more likely to be friends with people you have regular contact with. For example, there are decades of research that shows that you are more likely to become friends with people who live in your dorm,...
02:16Surveys
Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally. Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.
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.
01:47Aggression
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...
01:27Relationship Growth
Interpersonal relationships progress through stages, beginning with awareness and moving toward mutuality, where emotional connections deepen. While many relationships remain at moderate levels of mutuality, deeper connections form through self-disclosure, trust, and interdependence.Self-DisclosureSelf-disclosure involves revealing personal information, starting with surface-level details and gradually progressing to more intimate content. As trust grows, individuals feel more comfortable...
02:04Bullying
A modern form of aggression is bullying. As you learn in your study of child development, socializing and playing with other children is beneficial for children’s psychological development. However, as you may have experienced as a child, not all play behavior has positive outcomes. Some children are aggressive and want to play roughly. Other children are selfish and do not want to share toys. One form of negative social interactions among children that has become a national concern is bullying.