Victims or survivors? Victimology as Viewed by a Behavior Analyst

Originally Broadcast on 1.31.2021

Karola Dillenburger is a Professor of Behaviour Analysis and Education and Director of the Centre for Behaviour Analysis at Queen’s University Belfast. She co-ordinates the MSc in Autism Spectrum Disorders (MSc ASD) and teaches on the online MSc Applied Behaviour Analysis (MSc ABA). Karola provides insights from her 2007 article on behavior analysis and victimology. Her own experiences living in Northern Ireland supplement this often neglected side of the impact of criminality. We find that many of the same contingencies found with victims are also in place in the learning histories of victims.

Find this in audio form on the Criminal Behaviorology Podcast:

Show Highlights:

- What is Victimology as a field of study?

- The main differences between victims and survivors?

- The three key concepts: a) personal learning history; b) prevailing contingencies; and c) cultural contexts. How these concepts factor in the development of victims and perpetrators.

- The importance of behavioral economics in the study of victims. Closed and open economies.

- Trans-generational transmission of trauma.

- The old idea of an “unconscious longing to be a victim.” The lack of evidence to support such a notion and how a careful examination of the contingencies involved can dispel many of these mysterious explanations of victim behavior, as in domestic violence and other examples.

- Karola’s emphasis on getting away from “bigger and bigger words,” greater elaboration found in much of psychodynamic and psychological literature, and instead focus on the basics of behavior. What is the antecedent? What is happening now? Behavior analysis as a means to deal with depression and bereavement.

- The increased use of behavior analytic concepts in several fields, often without even mentioning the field of behavior analysis specifically.

Dillenburger, K. (2007). A behavior analytic perspective on victimology. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 3, 433-448.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ801233.pdf

Queen’s University Belfast - Centre for Behaviour Analysis:

https://www.qub.ac.uk/cba

Behaviour Analysis: A Primer:

http://behaviouranalysis.eu.com

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