Knowledge Base and Research Priorities
At the Center for Institutional Courage, we have a broad knowledge base that focuses on institutional courage, institutional betrayal, betrayal trauma, cultural betrayal trauma, and DARVO. We are committed to sharing and applying the scientific research that already exists and to producing new research for each of these areas. Our goal? To make our institutions more accountable, equitable, and effective for everyone.
Our Knowledge Base
Institutional courage includes institutional accountability, transparency, making reparations where needed, and a commitment to being responsive to its members. Institutional courage means acting in these ways despite unpleasantness, risk, and short-term costs. It is also the antidote to institutional betrayal. Examples include institutions responding to disclosures of wrongdoing or violence, such as sexual harassment, with validation and action rather than denial and retaliation. Institutional courage also includes continual assessment of the institution, such as surveys about sexual harassment experiences and climate, and following through with actions based on the assessment results.
See Resources for Changemakers for 11 Steps for Promoting Institutional Courage
Also see Smidt AM, Adams-Clark AA, Freyd JJ (2023) Institutional courage buffers against institutional betrayal, protects employee health, and fosters organizational commitment following workplace sexual harassment, PLOS ONE 18(1): e0278830. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278830
Institutional betrayal, developed from betrayal trauma theory, occurs when the institution you trust or depend on mistreats you. It can be overt, such as when a government forces children to be separated from their parents at the border. It can also be less obvious, such as a failure to protect you when you reasonably expect to be protected, as when an employee who reports being sexually harassed continues to be victimized after their employer fails to take action. Research by Freyd and our Research Associates shows that institutional betrayal is related to measurable harm – both psychological and physical.
A betrayal trauma occurs when someone you trust and/or someone who has power over you mistreats you. For instance, it is a betrayal trauma when a member of the clergy sexually abuses a child involved with a church activity. Research by Freyd and our Research Associates shows that betrayal traumas are toxic and harm people psychologically and physically.
Betrayal blindness, a key concept of betrayal trauma theory, is the unawareness, not-knowing, and forgetting of betrayal traumas. Victims, perpetrators, and witnesses may display betrayal blindness in order to preserve the relationships, institutions, and social systems on which they depend.
A cultural betrayal trauma occurs when someone of your same marginalized group abuses you. For example, in the United States, a Black adult sexually violating a Black child is a cultural betrayal trauma. Research by Gómez and our Research Associates finds that cultural betrayal traumas are uniquely traumatic, harming people both psychologically and culturally.
Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma
Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma describes current discriminatory violence directed toward a group of people who have also been historically oppressed or victimized. People can experience Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma even when they are indirectly exposed to this violence. Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma was first conceptualized by Courage Research Associate Melissa L. Barnes to describe Black Americans’ experiences with police violence.
DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. Perpetrators and their defenders may Deny the behavior, Attack the victim confronting them, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender. In this way, a perpetrator can adopt the victim role and accuse the true victim of being an offender. This can occur when an actually guilty perpetrator assumes the role of “falsely accused,” attacks the victim’s credibility, and accuses the victim of perpetrating a false accusation. Research shows that DARVO is associated with harm to victims. DARVO behavior can also be perpetrated by institutions, called Institutional DARVO. It is a particularly aggressive form of institutional betrayal and signals that an institution is not fulfilling its commitment to its members and those who it is charged with protecting.
Research Priorities
Our Research Priorities stem from our Knowledge Base. We start with what we know, determine what we still want to know, and conduct research to fill in the gaps. Over time, our knowledge base will grow – and with it, our impact on the world.
In every research and education project, we consider three domains and how they interact with each other:
The types of organizations: workplaces, universities, the criminal justice system, healthcare systems, etc.
The types of marginalization and the relevant power structures: racism, sexism, heterosexism, religious discrimination, etc.
The types of harm: sexual violence (our top priority), public health failures, workplace violence, government corruption, etc.
Below is a snapshot of the Research Priorities the Courage Team is currently focused on and excited to answer:
Institutional Courage
How can organizations that were developed within discriminatory ideals, such as police departments and universities, engage in institutional courage?
Once a leader has committed a betrayal, what do they need to do to show institutional courage? How will members of the institution know when that leader actually has made things right?
Institutional courage is often associated with prioritizing long-term goals vs. short-term goals, like avoiding lawsuits instead of addressing the actual problem (e.g., sexual violence). How do we instead incentivize long-term goals?
Institutional Betrayal
How can we investigate overt institutional betrayal, as when a government orders children to be separated from their families or when a victim reports a sexual assault and the institution retaliates?
What are the roles of trust, dependence, and love in the harm victims experience from institutional betrayal?
DARVO
If somebody uses DARVO, are they more likely to actually be guilty of what they’re being accused of? What other factors in a person’s life increases the chances that they use DARVO?
How can we teach people to handle being the target of DARVO? How can people learn how to respond with anti-DARVO behavior?
Additional Resources
Resources for Changemakers including 11 steps of institutional courage