You can degrade but you can't hit: Differences in perceptions of psychological versus physical aggression

Abstract

This study fills two major gaps in the partner aggression literature. First, little is known about perceptions of psychological aggression. Second, it is unclear whether any physical aggression or just high physical aggression is perceived to be negative and severe. We conducted an experiment with college students (N = 212) to examine perceptions of a hypothetical marital conflict that varied the husband's level of physical aggression (absent, low, high) and psychological aggression (low, high). The effect of manipulating the husband's physical aggression led to robust main effects on perceptions of negativity and severity. The distinction between any versus low or high physical aggression depended on the variable. The effect of manipulating the husband's psychological aggression was not nearly as robust.