Psychological Reports, 1990, 66, 1217-1218. O Psychological Reports 1990
MEASURES O F SHAME AND CONFLICT TACTICS: EFFECTS O F QUESTIONNAIRE ORDER ' KIM K. FAULKNER AND ROSEMARY COGAN Texas Tech University Summary.-In the context of a theory of the intrapsychic dynamics of violent spousal relationships, in which abuse serves to replace shame with guilt, the effect of the order of presentation of questionnaires assessing shame, guilt, narcissism and conflict tactics was considered. Among 122 male and 133 female students, a shame score was significantly higher if the student had responded fitst to the Conflict Tactics Scale.
The concepts of shame, guilt, and narcissism have assumed theoretical importance in recent years (Kohut, 1971; Lewis, 1987; Piers & Singer, 1971). In examining the intrapsychic dynamics of men and women in violent spousal relationships, we have theorized (Faulkner, et al., 1989) that the abusive incident serves to replace shame with guilt over the abusive behavior for the abusing partner, whose contrition over abuse serves to reduce shame in the abused partner as well. Since we hypothesize relationships among shame, guilt, narcissism, and conflict tactics, it seemed possible that the order in which questions about each were asked might influence reports of each.
Subjects The volunteer subjects from general psychology included 122 men and 133 women who completed all measures. These subjects included 17 men and 10 women who reported three or more incidents in which they battered their partner (Straus, 1979) within the past year. Instruments The instrument groups, in a Latin Square design, included (1) the Shame Proneness Scale (Shreve & Patton, 1988), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory with four scales (Raskin & Hall, 1981), and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Inventory (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960), (2) the Mosher Guilt Inventory with three guilt scales (Mosher, in press), (3) the Internalized Shame Scale (Cook, 1988), and (4) the Conflict Tactics Scale, which assesses levels of reasoning, verbal aggression, and violence by self and partner (Straus, 1979). 'This work was supported in part by grants from the Hogg Foundation. Request re rints from R. Cogan, Ph.D., Deparcrnenr of Psychology, Texas Tech Uruversity, Box 4100, ~ u g b o c k ,TX 79409-2051.
K. K. FAULKNER
-
& R. COGAN
Procedure The subjects responded anonymously in groups ranging from 2 to 35. Between 61 and 68 subjects responded in each of the orders of test, with about equal numbers of men and women in each order. To correct for skewness a log transformation of one Narcissistic Personality Inventory scale and square root transformations of two others and of the Conflict Tactics Scale for verbal aggression and direct violence were carried out. A preliminary multivariate analysis of covariance, with Marlowe-Crowne scores as the covariate, showed no reliable interactions among order, sex, and battering. To simplify reporting, the covariance was repeated with order as a main effect and Marlowe-Crowne scores as the covariate.
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION The analysis showed reliable effects for order (Wilks X = .685; F ,,,,,,= 2.12, p < .0001) and for the covariate (Wilks X = .713; F ,,,,,, = 6.33, p
MEASURES O F SHAME AND CONFLICT TACTICS: EFFECTS O F QUESTIONNAIRE ORDER ' KIM K. FAULKNER AND ROSEMARY COGAN Texas Tech University Summary.-In the context of a theory of the intrapsychic dynamics of violent spousal relationships, in which abuse serves to replace shame with guilt, the effect of the order of presentation of questionnaires assessing shame, guilt, narcissism and conflict tactics was considered. Among 122 male and 133 female students, a shame score was significantly higher if the student had responded fitst to the Conflict Tactics Scale.
The concepts of shame, guilt, and narcissism have assumed theoretical importance in recent years (Kohut, 1971; Lewis, 1987; Piers & Singer, 1971). In examining the intrapsychic dynamics of men and women in violent spousal relationships, we have theorized (Faulkner, et al., 1989) that the abusive incident serves to replace shame with guilt over the abusive behavior for the abusing partner, whose contrition over abuse serves to reduce shame in the abused partner as well. Since we hypothesize relationships among shame, guilt, narcissism, and conflict tactics, it seemed possible that the order in which questions about each were asked might influence reports of each.
Subjects The volunteer subjects from general psychology included 122 men and 133 women who completed all measures. These subjects included 17 men and 10 women who reported three or more incidents in which they battered their partner (Straus, 1979) within the past year. Instruments The instrument groups, in a Latin Square design, included (1) the Shame Proneness Scale (Shreve & Patton, 1988), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory with four scales (Raskin & Hall, 1981), and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Inventory (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960), (2) the Mosher Guilt Inventory with three guilt scales (Mosher, in press), (3) the Internalized Shame Scale (Cook, 1988), and (4) the Conflict Tactics Scale, which assesses levels of reasoning, verbal aggression, and violence by self and partner (Straus, 1979). 'This work was supported in part by grants from the Hogg Foundation. Request re rints from R. Cogan, Ph.D., Deparcrnenr of Psychology, Texas Tech Uruversity, Box 4100, ~ u g b o c k ,TX 79409-2051.
K. K. FAULKNER
-
& R. COGAN
Procedure The subjects responded anonymously in groups ranging from 2 to 35. Between 61 and 68 subjects responded in each of the orders of test, with about equal numbers of men and women in each order. To correct for skewness a log transformation of one Narcissistic Personality Inventory scale and square root transformations of two others and of the Conflict Tactics Scale for verbal aggression and direct violence were carried out. A preliminary multivariate analysis of covariance, with Marlowe-Crowne scores as the covariate, showed no reliable interactions among order, sex, and battering. To simplify reporting, the covariance was repeated with order as a main effect and Marlowe-Crowne scores as the covariate.
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION The analysis showed reliable effects for order (Wilks X = .685; F ,,,,,,= 2.12, p < .0001) and for the covariate (Wilks X = .713; F ,,,,,, = 6.33, p
