Partner Violence, 2013
A New Paradigm for Understanding Conflict Escalation
The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality Series

As domestic violence continues to be a focus of social and psychological concern, two basic contradictory viewpoints endure: one rooted in male power dynamics, the other maintaining that both genders use and are victimized by violence. Although both sides have their merits, neither has adequately answered the crucial question: What causes conflict to escalate into violence?

Partner Violence: A New Paradigm for Understanding Conflict Escalation adds a third, escalation-focused paradigm to the debate, addressing the limitations of the two dominant perspectives in a comprehensive scholarly approach. This concise yet comprehensive volume examines key gender- and non-gender-related violence issues and sets out a compelling behavioral argument that using violence to control others is a rational choice. Its theoretical and empirical foundations support an in-depth study of escalating aggression in violent relationships, both throughout periods of chronic conflict and in single violent episodes. This analysis promotes a broader and deeper understanding of partner violence, suitable to developing more finely targeted, effective, and lasting interventions.

Among the key topics featured are:  Gender differences in aggressive tendencies. Dominance, control, and violence. Partner violence as planned behavior. The process leading to partner violence. Partner conflict dynamics throughout relationship periods and within conflicts. Gender differences in escalatory intentions.

Partner Violence is an important volume for researchers, graduate students, and clinicians/professionals across various disciplines, including personality and social psychology, criminology, public health, clinical psychology, sociology, and social work.

Preface.- Gender Differences in Aggressive Tendencies.- Dominance and Control.- Partner Violence as a Rational Choice.- Partner Violence as Planned Behavior.- The Process Leading to Partner Violence.- Partner Conflict Dynamics Throughout Relationship Periods.- Partner Conflict Dynamics.- Observation Units of Partner Violence.- Gender Differences in Escalatory Intentions.- Observations about the Third Paradigm.

Zeev Winstok, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences and a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Society, at the University of Haifa, Israel. His research focuses on a wide range of family violence, including partner violence, children’s exposure to interparental violence and parents’ use of violence against their children. During the past decade, Professor Winstok won prestigious research grants, including a grant for a longitudinal study of the escalation of conflicts to violence among partners from the Israel Scientific Foundation, published dozens of articles in refereed journals in his field, such as Interpersonal Violence, Violence Against Women, and Aggressive Behavior and presented his work at numerous international conferences in his field.