The “moral filtering” of physical violence in intimate partner conflicts. A partial test of the Situational Action Theory by gender

Abstract

According to the “Situational Action Theory” (SAT) for a violent act to take place, the perpetrator must first perceive violence as an action alternative. The likelihood of contemplating violence as an option in response to a provocation will depend on the “moral filter”, that is, on the interaction between the morality of the perpetrator and the moral context of the setting in which this person acts. Although some studies have analyzed the role of the moral filter in the perception-choice process, there has not yet been extensive research on (1) gender differences in the process of contemplation (perception) of physical violence as an option in intimate partner conflict situation and (2) the explanatory and predictive generality of the SAT with respect to the functioning of the moral filter as a function of gender. Based on a sample of college students, this study uses a factorial survey with vignettes to explore these two aspects. Our results indicate that there are no differences between males and females in mean levels of contemplation of intimate violence. In addition, we found a lot of similarities between men and women in the correlates and predictors involved in the moral filtering of violence. However, the few gender differences found question the full explanatory effectiveness of the SAT, which somewhat compromises its generality.