PSY344 TT1

What is Forensic Psychology — Domestic Violence and Abuse?

the course/topic covering domestic abuse, battered women syndrome, learned helplessness, PTSD, and rape trauma syndrome.

What is Domestic Abuse (Jones, 1994a) — leading cause of injury?

the leading cause of injury in American women sending more than 1 million for medical treatment every year.

What is Domestic Abuse — contribution to female suicide attempts?

the spousal violence contributes to one fourth of all suicide attempts by women.

What is Domestic Abuse — pregnancy statistic?

the claim that 37% of all obstetric patients are battered during pregnancy.

What is Domestic Abuse — homelessness statistic?

the claim that 50% of homeless women and children are fleeing from male violence.

What is FBI domestic violence homicide statistic?

the FBI reports that over 1,400 women are killed by their partners each year (about 6% of homicides).

What is Lenore Walker (1992) finding?

the statement that over one third of all women will be abused at some point in their lives (dependent on definition).

What is prevalence of violence in American families?

the statistic that 16% of American families experience violence and 3–4% experience life-threatening violence.

What is annual severe injury statistic (Straus & Gelles, 1988)?

the claim that each year 188,000 women are injured severely enough to require serious medical attention.

What is Domestic Abusers Typology — category 1?

the psychopathic abuser (violent/antisocial).

What is Domestic Abusers Typology — category 2?

the overcontrolled exploder (violent within family only).

What is Domestic Abusers Typology — category 3?

the emotionally volatile (dysphoric/borderline/antisocial/narcissistic tendencies).

What is other label for psychopathic/antisocial abuser?

the sociopathic, anti-social, or typical abuser label.

What is additional classification dimensions for abusers?

the dimensions of severity, frequency, psychopathology, and criminal history, yielding low, medium, and high risk batterers.

What is Victimology statement?

the observation that there is no consistent typology for victims and that victims cover all ethnicities, levels of society, and personality types.

What is definition of Syndrome?

the group of symptoms that occur together and characterize a disease.

What is Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) definition?

the woman’s presumed reactions to a pattern of continual physical and psychological abuse inflicted on her by her mate.

What is diagnosability of BWS?

the statement that BWS is not a diagnosable mental disorder.

What is APA and BWS?

the American Psychiatric Association has recognized the syndrome in amicus briefs filed as evidence in homicide cases with self-defense pleas.

What is legal use of BWS?

the fact that BWS is used as a justification to support defenses of self-defense or insanity in certain crimes.

What is other legal uses of BWS?

that BWS has been used to support cases of children who kill abusive parents, same-sex partner homicides, rape victims who kill attackers, and coercion to participate as co-defendant in a serious crime.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (1)?

the component Learned Helplessness.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (2)?

the component Lowered self-esteem.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (3)?

the component Impaired functioning.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (4)?

the component Loss of assumption of safety.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (5)?

the component Fear and terror.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (6)?

the component Anger/rage.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (7)?

the component Diminished alternatives.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (8)?

the component Cycle of abuse.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (9)?

the component Hypervigilance.

What is Components of Battered Woman Syndrome (10)?

the component High tolerance for cognitive inconsistency.

What is Learned Helplessness origin (Seligman & Johnston, 1973)?

the experiment where dogs shocked in a harness and placed in a shuttlebox — 60% could not avoid shock.

What is Learned Helplessness experiment (Hiroto & Seligman, 1975)?

the three-group loud noise experiment

What is Cognitive Qualifiers of Learned Helplessness — generalization?

the idea that inescapable aversive events inhibit learning and loss of sense of control generalizes across situations.

What is Cognitive Qualifier dimension 1?

the Global vs. Specific view of negative situations.

What is Cognitive Qualifier dimension 2?

the External vs. Internal locus of control.

What is Cognitive Qualifier dimension 3?

the Stable vs. Transitory view of life conditions.

What is Learned Helplessness — motivational/cognitive effects?

the loose motivation to try to control events or giving up easily and impaired ability to learn from experience.

What is Learned Helplessness — emotional/physical outcomes in animals/humans?

the emotional and health effects including rats (ulcers), cats (ate less), dogs (critically impaired task learning), monkeys (illness), humans (high blood pressure, depression).

What is Cycle of Abuse phase 1?

the Tension building phase.

What is Cycle of Abuse phase 2?

the Acute battering incident.

What is Cycle of Abuse phase 3?

the Contrition phase.

What is reinforcement role in Cycle of Abuse?

positive and negative reinforcement powerfully affect behavior in the cycle.

What is prevalence of cycle-of-abuse pattern?

the note that not all battering relationships follow this cycle and estimated occurrence around 60–70%.

What is Forensic Assessment of BWS methods?

self-reports, medical records, interviews with family, friends, co-workers, and others.

What is an assessment instrument for abusive behavior?

the Abusive Behavior Observation Checklist (Dutton, 1992).

What is Psychological Abuse item 1?

coercion and threats.

What is Psychological Abuse item 2?

intimidation.

What is Psychological Abuse item 3?

emotional abuse (humiliation).

What is Psychological Abuse item 4?

isolation.

What is Psychological Abuse item 5?

minimization, denial, and blaming.

What is Psychological Abuse item 6?

use of children to control spouse.

What is Psychological Abuse item 7?

use of “male privilege.”

What is Psychological Abuse item 8?

economic/resource abuse.

What is Battered Woman Defense conviction frequency?

the observation that most battered women who kill get convicted.

What is timing of homicides by battered women?

the fact that only about one third of homicides by battered women take place during an active battering incident.

What is problem with Battered Woman Defense?

the legal problem of establishing imminence and reasonableness.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (1)?

Seriousness of threatened harm.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (2)?

Imminence.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (3)?

Overt act.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (4)?

Rule of retreat.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (5)?

Responsibility for provoking the incident.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (6)?

Equal force rule.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (7)?

Excessive force.

What are Elements of Self-Defense (8)?

Reasonableness (subjective vs. objective belief).

What is Insanity plea success for BWS?

the statement that insanity pleas do not succeed very often.

What is example claim for insanity and BWS?

the argument that beatings rendered her insane at time of killing.

What is critique of labeling self-defense killing as insanity?

the statement that it is demeaning to characterize a woman killing to save her life as insane.

What is Automatism plea?

the plea that a head injury caused a dissociative state such that intent could not be formed.

What is related diagnosis often raised in BWS cases?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

What is role of Expert Testimony on BWS — social framework evidence?

to provide social framework evidence to the court.

What is role of Expert Testimony on BWS — perception?

to address whether the perception of danger was reasonable.

What is role of Expert Testimony on BWS — psychological damage?

to testify about psychological damage from abuse.

What is role of Expert Testimony on BWS — why battered women stay?

to explain why battered women stay in relationships and may recant testimony of past violence, including personal strategies and help-seeking efforts.

What is Expert — Myth Busting common myths (1)?

the myth that battered women are masochistic, crazy, low class, uneducated, and deserve abuse as they provoke it.

What is Expert — Myth Busting common myths (2)?

the myth that battered women can always just leave the relationship.

What is Expert — Myth Busting common myths (3)?

the myth that the batterer is necessarily psychopathic and not a loving partner or father.

What is PTSD Criterion A?

exposure to a traumatic event involving experienced threat and intense fear or horror.

What is PTSD Criterion B?

the event is persistently re-experienced via emotional recollections, nightmares, hallucinations, flashbacks, extreme reactivity, intense distress to objects that symbolize the event.

What is PTSD Criterion C?

avoidance of trauma stimuli and general numbing such as flat affect, social isolation, lack of interest, feelings of doom, detachment, memory blocks.

What is PTSD Criterion D?

persistent symptoms of increased arousal like insomnia, irritability, exaggerated startle response, difficulty concentrating.

What is PTSD Criterion E?

duration of disturbance more than 1 month.

What is PTSD Criterion F?

the disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

What is Acute Stress Disorder duration cutoff?

the condition lasting less than 1 month is considered Acute Stress Disorder.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Acute Crisis Phase item 1?

denial, shock, and disbelief.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Acute Crisis Phase item 2?

disruption.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Acute Crisis Phase item 3?

guilt, hostility, and blame (victim blaming).

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Acute Crisis Phase item 4?

regression to state of helplessness or dependency.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Acute Crisis Phase item 5?

distorted perceptions.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Long Term Reaction 1?

phobias.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Long Term Reaction 2?

disturbances in general functioning.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Long Term Reaction 3?

sexual problems.

What is Rape Trauma Syndrome — Long Term Reaction 4?

changes in lifestyle.

What is relation of Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS) to PTSD?

PTSD is present in many survivors of rape and rape survivors may be the largest single group of PTSD sufferers.

What is DSM status of RTS?

RTS is not in the DSM-IV; it is a concept used to describe common behaviors associated with rape survivors.

What is evidentiary risk of RTS at trial?

RTS testimony can be prejudicial at trial because saying someone has RTS implies they were raped.

What is limitation of PTSD vs RTS?

PTSD does not include important aspects of RTS such as depression, anger, and sexual dysfunction.

What is Expert Testimony roles in rape cases (1)?

address rape myths (e.g., women secretly wish to be raped, most accusations are fake, women cannot be raped against their will).

What is Expert Testimony roles in rape cases (2)?

testify on the issue of consent.

What is Expert Testimony roles in rape cases (3)?

testify on questions about the victim’s behavior.