Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the psycho-physiological correlates in a sample of women during a task of exposition to psychological intimate partner violence. Eighteen victims of psychological violence and nine non-victims judged hypothetical scenarios involving psychological violence while their response times, heart rate and skin conductance were recorded. Results showed that victims of psychological violence took longer to judge the scenarios and showed an increase of physiological reactivity while they read violent interactions compared to non-victims. These findings support the use of physiological measures in victimization studies to give researchers and clinicians insight into behavior regulation and possible intervention outcomes.