This study examined the effects of question wording and cognitive busyness on participant decisions to leave or stay in a hypothetical abusive relationship. Participants asked whether they would leave were expected to make decisions closer to u27definitely leaveu27 than participants asked whether they would stay, with the effect being more pronounced for cognitively busy participants. Participants read an abuse vignette and then half were instructed to memorize numbers to manipulate busyness. All participants imagined they were in the victimu27s position, tried to recall reasons from the vignette that were relevant to the decision, and indicated their decisions on a scale from u27definitely stayu27 to u27definitely leaveu27. As predicted, male decisions were closer to u27definitely leaveu27 when asked whether they would leave than when asked whether they would stay. The opposite pattern, however, was found for female participants, with decisions being closest to u27definitely leaveu27 when asked whether they would stay.
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