What psychological process makes a person who is treated badly respond and treat others accordingly although they don’t like they way they’re treated?
In: Other
Getting abused does not automatically make you pass it on—there *are* people out there who were beat on as kids, yet have not become abusers themselves. I don’t know why everyone seems to think it’s inevitable.
I think you’ll only pass the violent behavior down if, on some level, it “worked” on you. For example, if you *did* ~~freeze in terror~~ stop crying after mom threatened to whip you with a coat hanger— well then, you might internalize the message “these methods might be shitty but they get results” and try it yourself someday. Conversely, if you never stopped screaming the whole beating long and she finally just gave up, I doubt you’d grow up feeling that violence is an effective tool.
Latest Answers