TY - JOUR

T1 - Third Parties Mirror the Aggression of the Antagonists

T2 - A Video-Based Analysis of Third-Party Aggression in Interpersonal Conflicts

AU - Ejbye-Ernst, Peter

AU - Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz

AU - Bernasco, Wim

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 SAGE Publications.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Third parties tend to take an active role and intervene in interpersonal conflicts in public. Previous research has shown that the level of aggression of these interventions determines how they influence the conflict. No previous study has, however, systematically investigated whether the aggression of third-party interventions is influenced by the development of the conflict situation. The objective of this study is twofold. First, the study determines the extent to which the aggression level of intervening third parties changes during the course of interpersonal conflicts. Second, the study identifies and investigates the factors that affect the aggression levels displayed by intervening third parties. We systematically observed and coded CCTV footage of 46 interpersonal conflicts in public space, recorded by surveillance cameras in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The data included 565 intervention behaviors by 125 third parties. We recorded the levels of aggression of the individuals involved in the conflict and conducted a multinomial logistic regression analysis to investigate what influenced the aggression level of the third-party interventions. We found that the aggression levels of the preceding intervention behaviors by the third parties predict aggression levels of their subsequent interventions. This shows a consistency in third-party interventions over the course of a conflict. We also found that the aggression levels of the conflict parties that are the targets of the interventions influence the aggression levels of third-party intervention. This finding demonstrates that the development of the conflict situation influences how aggressive the third parties are. Our study emphasizes the importance of taking the interactional dynamics of interpersonal conflicts into consideration when explaining third-party behavior.

AB - Third parties tend to take an active role and intervene in interpersonal conflicts in public. Previous research has shown that the level of aggression of these interventions determines how they influence the conflict. No previous study has, however, systematically investigated whether the aggression of third-party interventions is influenced by the development of the conflict situation. The objective of this study is twofold. First, the study determines the extent to which the aggression level of intervening third parties changes during the course of interpersonal conflicts. Second, the study identifies and investigates the factors that affect the aggression levels displayed by intervening third parties. We systematically observed and coded CCTV footage of 46 interpersonal conflicts in public space, recorded by surveillance cameras in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The data included 565 intervention behaviors by 125 third parties. We recorded the levels of aggression of the individuals involved in the conflict and conducted a multinomial logistic regression analysis to investigate what influenced the aggression level of the third-party interventions. We found that the aggression levels of the preceding intervention behaviors by the third parties predict aggression levels of their subsequent interventions. This shows a consistency in third-party interventions over the course of a conflict. We also found that the aggression levels of the conflict parties that are the targets of the interventions influence the aggression levels of third-party intervention. This finding demonstrates that the development of the conflict situation influences how aggressive the third parties are. Our study emphasizes the importance of taking the interactional dynamics of interpersonal conflicts into consideration when explaining third-party behavior.

KW - criminology

KW - violence exposure

KW - violent offenders

KW - criminology

KW - violence exposure

KW - violent offenders

U2 - 10.1177/08862605211023503

DO - 10.1177/08862605211023503

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34126794

AN - SCOPUS:85107981348

VL - 37

SP - NP15899-NP15924

JO - Journal of Interpersonal Violence

JF - Journal of Interpersonal Violence

SN - 0886-2605

IS - 17-18

ER -