How Do Third Parties Respond to Intimate Partner Violence? The Role of the Victim’s Justification of Violence

Previous research shows that victims of intimate partner violence (IPV)
often justify violence, which can play a role in the persistence of violence.
The present studies examined whether the victim’s justification of violence
negatively affects third parties’ evaluative responses toward the victim
(general evaluation of the victim, victim blaming, and evaluation of the
victim’s response toward the violence) and negatively affects third parties’
willingness to support and take action. We also examined whether this
would occur especially when the violence had happened frequently in the
past. In two experimental studies (one in the Netherlands, Study 1, N = 220;
one in Indonesia, Study 2, N = 231), participants watched a video depicting
IPV. After watching the video, we manipulated the victim’s justification of
violence (high vs. low justification of violence) as well as the frequency of
violence experienced by the victim in the past (high vs. low past frequency).
Consistent across the two studies, the results showed that when they