Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios

Three studies employing student and community samples in the United Kingdom (total N = 514) explored the effects of verbal versus physical abuse upon judgments of seriousness, responsibility, and consequences in stalking scenarios. The first study manipulated verbal and physical abuse, the second ma...

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Main Authors: Sheridan, Lorraine, Scott, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2010
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8355
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author Sheridan, Lorraine
Scott, A.
author_facet Sheridan, Lorraine
Scott, A.
author_sort Sheridan, Lorraine
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Three studies employing student and community samples in the United Kingdom (total N = 514) explored the effects of verbal versus physical abuse upon judgments of seriousness, responsibility, and consequences in stalking scenarios. The first study manipulated verbal and physical abuse, the second manipulated presence and type of verbal threat, and the third manipulated physical injury. The findings confirmed that situational factors are at least as important an influence on judgments of stalking cases as are individual factors and that physical abuse was preeminent in decision making. Gender was also examined, and previous findings that female stalkers are wrongly perceived as less dangerous were again supported. It was concluded that because stalking is by nature diffuse, observers are readily influenced by what is most tangible in a stalking case. © 2010 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-83552017-09-13T14:38:33Z Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios Sheridan, Lorraine Scott, A. Three studies employing student and community samples in the United Kingdom (total N = 514) explored the effects of verbal versus physical abuse upon judgments of seriousness, responsibility, and consequences in stalking scenarios. The first study manipulated verbal and physical abuse, the second manipulated presence and type of verbal threat, and the third manipulated physical injury. The findings confirmed that situational factors are at least as important an influence on judgments of stalking cases as are individual factors and that physical abuse was preeminent in decision making. Gender was also examined, and previous findings that female stalkers are wrongly perceived as less dangerous were again supported. It was concluded that because stalking is by nature diffuse, observers are readily influenced by what is most tangible in a stalking case. © 2010 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8355 10.1177/0093854809359743 restricted
spellingShingle Sheridan, Lorraine
Scott, A.
Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
title Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
title_full Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
title_fullStr Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
title_short Perceptions of harm: Verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
title_sort perceptions of harm: verbal versus physical abuse in stalking scenarios
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8355