The Impact of Punishment Level and Distribution Ratio on Second Party in Third-Party Punishment Game

Abstract

The third-party punishment game (TPP) was popular for its enormous influence on real-life judicial problems and the current justice system. After mimicking a third-party game for each participant, the study collected data from the second party and tested the likeableness of the third party and the extent to which the second party punished or rewarded the third party. Most results were calculated by SPSS, and results showed that (i) the second party is more likely to rate a higher level of likeableness and justice for the third party for each level of punishment (ii) if the third party enforces a high level of punishment, the second party is more likely to compensate with a greater amount (iii) if the third party chooses the low level of punishment, the second party is more likely to punish. Overall, the experiment demonstrates how the second parties attitudes to third parties were influenced by the punishment level, the distribution ratio and third parties intervention intentions.