Right Off the BAT: The Operant Conditioning Theory Regarding Domestic Violence

Criminal Behaviorology

Title: Right Off the BAT: The Operant Conditioning Theory Regarding Domestic Violence

Dr. Marilyn Bonem is a professor at Eastern Michigan University. In 2008, she co-wrote a study on domestic violence using the Battering Assessment Tool (BAT). In this interview we discuss with Dr. Bonem the results of her study of batterers and how we should think of domestic violence in behavioral terms as opposed to placing the offenders in vague psychological categories.

Show Highlights:

- The intervention programs for domestic violence often used, including the Duluth and CBT models.

- Viewing domestic violence from a behavioral point of view. What are the advantages to treating domestic violence as an operant behavior?

- Dr. Bonem’s work on the Battering Assessment Tool (BAT).

- The lack of a specific “personality” type for batterers, and how an improved understanding of antecedents and consequences may serve as an explanation for the phenomenon of domestic violence.

- What are the reactions of domestic violence victims to the results of BAT research? How these findings can help victims.

- Concerns about how this information is received. Is there a risk of excusing batterers or blaming the victim?

Dr. Bonem’s page with Eastern Michigan University:

https://www.emich.edu/psychology/faculty/mbonem.php

Link to the 2008 article on the BAT:

https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2014-55088-006.html

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