Influence of social proximity in response to violence against women: behavioral and electroencephalographic studies

• Grant number: 23/06917-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Sérgio Boggio
• Grantee: Letícia Yumi Nakao Morello
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/07255-9 - Differences between types of moral judgments about intimate partner violence against women, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The fight against violence against women has led to the creation of specific laws in Brazil, such as the Maria da Penha Law (Law No. 11,340/2006) and the Feminicide Law (Law No. 13,104/2015), as well as being one of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The response of individuals approached by female victims of violence as a support network impacts the likelihood of reporting the perpetrator. Although it is believed that intervening in cases of aggression is the right thing to do, a study conducted by our laboratory indicated a decrease in the willingness to offer help if the aggressor is a friend, but the underlying mechanisms behind this have not been investigated. The present study aims to investigate how the degree of social proximity to the aggressor can affect agreement with violent attitudes against women and whether this agreement is deliberate or based on automatic cognitive processes that violate expectations about social norms. For this purpose, two experiments will be conducted in which participants' brain activity will be measured using electroencephalography while they evaluate the responses of a friend and a stranger regarding their likelihood (none, low, or high) of engaging in aggressive behavior against women. These likelihoods will actually be pre-programmed and equally distributed between the agents (friend and stranger). Participants will be informed of this at the end of the study. In the first experiment, the likelihoods will refer to aggressive behavior against women unrelated to the aggressor; in the second experiment, the likelihoods of aggression will be directed towards the respective partners of the agents (friend and stranger), using different actions of these women as justification. We will analyze behavior based on participants' responses and analyze brain activity based on the pattern of the component known as Medial Frontal Negativity (MFN), which is related to violated expectations in social contexts. (AU)