Battered woman defendants' claims of self-defense have often been viewed as not fitting the classic definition of self-defense. Vignettes of a legal case varied the explicitness of the threat made to the woman by her partner before she killed him, whether she had the opportunity to retreat, and objective versus subjective instructions by the judge. College students (N = 399) chose a verdict, identified variables that influenced their verdicts, and completed attitudinal measures. The opportunity for retreat increased the probability of a guilty verdict by 5 times. Objective juror instructions increased the odds of a guilty verdict by almost 2 times. Explicitness versus implicitness of the threat did not affect verdict choice nor did attitudes of mock jurors. Verdict choice was more influenced by details about the abuse than personal traits of the husband or wife or reports from authorities.

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The cognitive social-learning-theory literature on alcohol abuse points to failure to generate appropriate alternative behaviors to drinking as a major predictor of relapse to drinking. Viewing drinking as a continuous variable, ranging from abstinence to abuse, it should be possible to demonstrate a relationship between problem-solving abilities and drinking patterns. The hypothesis that individuals' perceived problem-solving skills are related to their pattern of alcohol use was examined. It was expected that poorer perceived problem-solving skills would be related to maladaptive use of alcohol in response to problem situations. 192 students in Introductory Psychology at a midsized southern university participated. Each subject completed questionnaires assessing frequency and quantity of alcohol use, and stimuli associated with the onset of drinking. The Problem-solving Inventory was used to measure perceived problem-solving skills. Drinking pattern variables were formed by factor analysis. Canonical correlation analysis of the data supported the hypotheses. Students with lower confidence in problem-solving capabilities reported greater use of alcohol to cope with negative emotions and to escape from responsibilities than students with high confidence in their abilities. Amount of alcohol consumed was not related to problem-solving skills.