What Motivates Direct and Indirect Punishment? Extending the "Intuitive Retributivism" Hypothesis

Catherine Molho, Mathias Twardawski, Lei Fan

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Abstract

Punishment represents a key mechanism to deter norm violations and is motivated by retribution and/or general deterrence. Retribution-motivated punishment is tailored to offense severity, whereas deterrence-motivated punishment is tailored to different factors, including punishment observability. This study aimed to replicate and extend prior work by testing how offense severity and punishment observability motivate direct, confrontational punishment versus indirect, covert punishment. Participants (N = 308) read vignettes describing offenses with varying severity (high vs. low) and punishment observability (high vs. low). We then assessed their punishment tendencies – overall, direct, and indirect – and their endorsement of retribution and deterrence motives. Findings supported a “strong version” of intuitive retributivism. Manipulating retribution-relevant information consistently influenced punishment: participants reported stronger overall, direct, and indirect punishment tendencies when severity was high (vs. low). Self-reported deterrence (but not retribution) motives positively related to overall, direct, and indirect punishment tendencies. However, manipulating deterrence-relevant information did not influence punishment.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)84-93
Number of pages10
JournalZeitschrift für Psychologie
Volume230
Issue number2
Early online date25 Feb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2022

Funding

Data collection for this study was funded by PsychLab, a service of the Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID), Trier, Germany. Catherine Molho acknowledges IAST funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) under grant ANR-17-EURE-0010 (Investissements d’Avenir program). Mathias Twar-dawski received support from LMUexcellent, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Free State of Bavaria under the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal Government and the Länder.

FundersFunder number
PsychLab
Agence Nationale de la RechercheANR-17-EURE-0010
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

    Keywords

    • punishment
    • gossip
    • motives
    • retribution
    • deterrence

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