Punishment Behavior Research Articles

MỐI QUAN HỆ GIỮA HÀNH VI TRỪNG PHẠT THỂ CHẤT CỦA CHA MẸ VÀ HÀNH VI GÂY HẤN CỦA VỊ THÀNH NIÊN: VAI TRÒ TRUNG GIAN CỦA SỰ GẮN BÓ KHÔNG AN TOÀN

This study examines the relationship between prior parental physical punishment and future aggressive behavior in children, as well as the mediating role of anxious and avoidant attachment in the relationships. Using an 8-month longitudinal study design, data were collected at 3 waves, with a 4-month interval across waves. 762 students participated at Wave 1 (Mage = 12.1 (SD = 1.14), 48% female). The number decreased to 484 at Wave 2 and 368 at Wave 3. The Harsh Punishment was used to measure physical punishment at Wave 1, the Experiences of Close Relationship (short version) was used to measure avoidant and anxious attachment at Wave 2, and the Aggression Scale was used to measure aggressive behavior at Wave 3. Results showed that parents' physical punishment behavior significantly predicted the development of future aggressive behavior, and that anxious attachment played a mediation role in the relationship. These findings suggest the urgent need for developing measures to treat physical punishment and parent-child attachment as a solution to effectively address the prevalence of school violence in Vietnam.

Influences of Attachment on Perceptions and Reactions to Partner Drinking

This study explored the relationship between alcohol consumption within romantic relationships and the perception of a partner’s drinking problem, considering attachment. Attachment theory identifies three primary attachment styles: secure, anxious, and avoidant. It was hypothesized that the number of times a partner got drunk in the last year would be positively associated with the person’s perception of a drinking problem and that these perceptions and reactions would vary according to the individual's attachment orientation. Specifically, it was anticipated that those who are more anxiously attached would be more sensitive to their partner's drinking behaviors, perceiving them more negatively and engaging in more punitive actions, whereas avoidantly attached individuals would minimize the significance of their partner's drinking issues. 754 participants were surveyed via Qualtrics to assess frequency of partner drinking, concern about partner drinking, punishment for partner drinking, reward for partner sobriety, and attachment levels. Results showed that frequency of a partner’s drinking was related to concern about partner drinking, and that association was stronger for those with more anxious and avoidant orientations. Additionally, partner drinking was associated with more punishment behaviors for those with higher levels of anxious attachment, as well as those with higher levels of avoidant attachment. However, partner drinking was not related to reward for non-drinking based on attachment. Lastly, the perception of a partner’s drinking mediated the relationship between perceived partner drinking and punishment, with the indirect effect being stronger for higher levels of insecure attachment. Building upon these findings, future research should explore interventions tailored to different attachment orientations to better address the negative impacts of alcohol consumption within romantic relationships.

Punishment after Life: How Attitudes about Longer-than-Life Sentences Expose the Rules of Retribution.

Prison sentences that exceed the natural lifespan present a puzzle because they have no more power to deter or incapacitate than a single life sentence. In three survey experiments, we tested the extent to which participants support these longer-than-life sentences under different decision contexts. In Experiment 1, 130 undergraduates made hypothetical prison sentence-length recommendations for a serious criminal offender, warranting two sentences to be served either concurrently or consecutively. Using a nationally representative sample (N = 182) and an undergraduate pilot sample (N = 260), participants in Experiments 2 and 3 voted on a hypothetical ballot measure to either allow or prohibit the use of consecutive life sentences. Results from all experiments revealed that, compared to concurrent life sentences participants supported the use of consecutive life sentences for serious offenders. In addition, they adjusted these posthumous years in response to mitigating factors in a manner that was indistinguishable from ordinary sentences (Experiment 1), and their support for consecutive life sentencing policies persisted, regardless of the default choice and whether the policy was costly to implement (Experiments 2 and 3). These judgment patterns were most consistent with retributive punishment heuristics and have implications for sentencing policy and for theories of punishment behavior.

Age, but not education, affects social decision-making in the ultimatum game paradigm.

Social decision-making (SDM) is often studied through gaming paradigms, in which participants allocate resources among themselves and others based on predefined rules. In an adapted version of the ultimatum game (UG), SDM behavior was modulated in response to the degree of fairness of monetary offers and the social context of opponents, designed to generate either prosocial or punishing behaviors. To investigate whether SDM evaluated by the UG is affected by age and schooling, as it is relevant to know whether sociodemographic variables may bias UG results. A total of 131 healthy adults participated: 35 young university students and 96 participants in Universidade de São Paulo's USP 60+ program (formerly known as Universidade Aberta à Terceira Idade, a program for people aged ≥ 60 years to attend university). The sample was divided into 3 age groups (17-22, 60-69, and 70-79 years) and 3 schooling groups (4-8, 9-11, and ≥ 12 years of schooling). Age and schooling did not affect performance in fair monetary offers. Differences were observed in the unfair conditions. The oldest group (70-79 years) accepted less frequently the baseline unfair offers (without social context), when compared with the 17-22 and the 60-69 years groups (17-22 = 60-69 > 70-79). Regarding the prosocial unfair and punishing unfair conditions, older adults accepted such offers more frequently (17-22 < 60-69 = 70-79). Schooling effects were not observed. In the context of SDM, older adults may show prosocial behaviors more frequently than younger adults. The findings suggest performance in the UG is affected by age, but not by schooling.

Emotional Blackmail in Breaking Bad Series: A Pragma-Stylistic Study

Although language research has focused on blackmail in general, less attention has been paid to emotional blackmail. To date, researchers could not locate any literature that examines emotional blackmail from a linguistic standpoint. The current study is intended to fill this gap by scrutinizing emotional blackmail from a pragma-stylistic point of view by examining the style of the characters in selected episodes extracted from the American Breaking Bad series. To carry out the study, an eclectic model comprising kinds of emotional blackmailers by Forward and Frazier (1997), Searles’ speech acts (1979), Grice’s maxims (1975), Brown and Levinson’s politeness (1987), Culpeper’s impoliteness (1996), and Simpson’s stylistic levels (2004) will be used. The study examines how emotional blackmailers reflect themselves through language and how different pragmatic theories contribute to detecting emotional blackmail. The pragma-stylistic analysis reveals that emotional blackmailers use different pragmatic and stylistic elements. Pragmatically, the analysis demonstrates that punishers more frequently utilize commissive speech acts, whereas sufferers more frequently use representative and expressive speech acts. Besides, the punishers’ speech is realized by breaching the quantity and manner maxims whereas the sufferer’s speech is manifested by breaching the quantity and quality maxims. Concerning (im)politeness, the punishing behavior is accomplished by positive politeness, negative impoliteness, bold on-record impoliteness, and positive impoliteness while the suffering behavior is accomplished through positive politeness. Stylistically, the language used to talk about suffering is associated with discomfort and unhappiness. Concerning grammar, the punishing discourse emphasizes threats through fronting strategies. With suffering, negative auxiliaries are used.

Nudging punishment against sharing of fake news

Corrective comments posted in response to misinformation shared on social media are not only effective in reducing belief in misinformation among those observing the interaction but also serve as a publicly observable social punishment against fake news sharing. We suggest that, by visibly displaying punishing behavior, corrective comments have the potential to function as a norm nudge, updating observers’ perception of the norms regulating punishment, the so-called “meta-norms”. We conducted a preregistered online experiment in which participants joined discussions resembling an online forum and could comment on posts shared by previous users. We manipulated participants’ possibility to observe corrective comments replying to a post sharing fake news and measured the effect of this variation on their propensity to leave a corrective comment. We show that participants exposed to posts corrected by other users are significantly more likely to reply with a corrective comment, even after controlling for participants’ perceived accuracy of the shared post. Participants exposed to the corrections provided by previous users perceive replying with corrections as more socially appropriate. Our results suggest that social corrections work as a (meta) norm nudge, increasing the probability of punishing norm violations by increasing the social appropriateness of correcting. Our findings suggest that interventions targeting “would-be” enforcers could complement existing policies specifically directed at norm violators.

Impact of the gut microbiome composition on social decision-making.

There is increasing evidence for the role of the gut microbiome in the regulation of socio-affective behavior in animals and clinical conditions. However, whether and how the composition of the gut microbiome may influence social decision-making in health remains unknown. Here, we tested the causal effects of a 7-week synbiotic (vs. placebo) dietary intervention on altruistic social punishment behavior in an ultimatum game. Results showed that the intervention increased participants' willingness to forgo a monetary payoff when treated unfairly. This change in social decision-making was related to changes in fasting-state serum levels of the dopamine-precursor tyrosine proposing a potential mechanistic link along the gut-microbiota-brain-behavior axis. These results improve our understanding of the bidirectional role body-brain interactions play in social decision-making and why humans at times act "irrationally" according to standard economic theory.

How retributive motives shape the emergence of third-party punishment across intergroup contexts.

This study examines how retributive motives-the desire to punish for the purpose of inflicting harm in the absence of future benefits-shape third-party punishment behavior across intergroup contexts. Six- to nine-year-olds (N = 151, Mage = 8.00, SDage = 1.15; 54% White, 18% mixed ethnicities, 17% Asian American; 46% female; from the USA) could punish ingroup, outgroup, or non-group transgressors by removing positive resources and allocating negative ones. Both punishments were described as retributive, yet allocating negative resources was perceived as more retributive than removing positive ones. We predicted that children would punish outgroups more so than ingroups and that this effect would be especially pronounced when punishment is perceived as particularly retributive. The results did not align with this prediction; instead, children similarly punished all agents.

Hydrocortisone reduces altruistic punishment in healthy men

Psychosocial stress modulates social cognition and behavior in humans. One potentially mediating factor is cortisol as part of the human endocrine stress response. With a double-blind, placebo-controlled between-subject study design, we tested possible dose-dependent effects of hydrocortisone (0 mg, 5 mg and 20 mg) in 85 healthy males. During a socio-economic decision-making task we measured trust, trustworthiness, sharing, punishment, and non-social risk behavior. Social value orientation (SVO) was also assessed. We observed significantly lower levels of punishment after hydrocortisone, especially in the 20 mg group. Drug-induced salivary cortisol correlated negatively with punishment behavior. None of the other facets of social behavior or the SVO were affected by hydrocortisone. Our results suggest that hydrocortisone reduces the propensity to punish unfair behavior. Future studies are needed to further disentangle the role played by various psychobiological mechanisms within the stress response as well as their complex interplay on social behavior and cognition.

조절초점과 잡크래프팅 : 상사의 자율성 지원과 조건적 보상 및 처벌행동의 조절효과를 중심으로

조절초점과 잡크래프팅 : 상사의 자율성 지원과 조건적 보상 및 처벌행동의 조절효과를 중심으로

Mothers' Punishment Styles for Their Children: A Qualitative Study

The aim of this study is to examine the punishment behaviors used by mothers in the process of teaching behaviors to their children. For this purpose, data were collected from 26 mothers with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 11 using a semi-structured interview form. The collected data were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of the analysis, it was found that mothers used two different styles of punishment: Verbal/Physical Violence and Verbal/Physical Restraint. Verbal/Physical Restraint includes maternal behaviors such as restricting children's access to something they like or want, not talking to them at all or talking less, sending them to a different place and making them stay there for a while, and ignoring them audiovisually for a while. Verbal/Physical Violence includes maternal behaviors such as rebuking, threatening, beating, getting angry, raising her voice, yelling, and speaking harshly to children. The results of the study were discussed within the framework of the literature and recommendations were made.

Incomplete punishment networks, heterogeneity, and cooperation in public good experiments

This study conducts laboratory experiments to explore the effect of punishment on public good contributions when individuals have heterogeneous marginal per capita returns on the public good under different punishment networks. According to the experimental results, we find that the structure of punishment network affects the contribution decision and punishment behavior. Among the punishment networks investigated in this study, the circle and homo-pairwise punishment networks have significantly higher effectiveness at improving the cooperation level. We also find that the complete punishment network leads to lower punishment severity and efficiency than the incomplete punishment networks.

Spare the rod, spoil the child: measurement and learning from an intervention to shift corporal punishment attitudes and behaviors in Grenada, West Indies.

Childrearing practices in the Caribbean and other postcolonial states have long been associated with corporal punishment and are influenced by expectations of children for respectfulness and obedience. Evidence across settings shows that physical punishment of young children is both ineffective and detrimental. Saving Brains Grenada (SBG) implemented a pilot study of an intervention based on the Conscious Discipline curriculum that aimed to build adult caregivers' skills around non-violent child discipline. We hypothesized that attitudes towards corporal punishment would shift to be negative as adults learned more positive discipline methods, and that child neurodevelopment would correspondingly improve. This report reviews the impact of monitoring and evaluation on the design and implementation of the intervention. Study 1 presents findings from the pilot study. Despite positive gains in neurodevelopmental outcomes among children in the intervention compared to controls, attitudes towards corporal punishment and reported use of it did not change. Additionally, several internal conflicts in the measures used to assess corporal punishment behaviors and attitudes were identified. Study 2 is a response to learning from Study 1 and highlights the importance for monitoring and evaluation to be data-informed, adaptive, and culturally appropriate. In Study 2, the SBG research team conducted cognitive interviews and group discussions with stakeholders to assess the content and comprehensibility of the Attitudes Towards Corporal Punishment Scale (ACP). This yielded insights into the measurement of attitudes towards corporal punishment and related parenting behavior, and prompted several revisions to the ACP. To accurately evaluate the intervention's theory of change and its goal to reduce violence against children, reliable and appropriate measures of attitudes towards corporal punishment and punishment behaviors are needed. Together, these two studies emphasize the value of continuous monitoring, evaluation, and learning in the implementation, adaptation, evaluation, and scaling of SBG and similar early childhood development interventions.

Punishment credibility and cooperation in public good games

This paper investigates the efficacy of a punishment mechanism in promoting cooperative behaviour in a public goods game when punishment enforcement is risky. Experimental studies have found that a sanctioning system can induce individuals to adopt behaviour deemed socially acceptable in such games. Our experiment qualifies this result by showing that a sanctioning system can only promote cooperative behaviour if subjects perceive punishment enforcement as a high-probability event. This result supports the view that sanctioning systems can only induce people to comply with social norms that enhance efficiency if such systems are sufficiently credible. We also find that the more punishment points towards a player were not being enforced in the history of the game, the more punishment from others was directed to them. This suggests that bygones are not bygones and that punishment behaviour attempts to compensate for the history of free-riding that goes unpunished.

Nudging enforcers: how norm perceptions and motives for lying shape sanctions.

We conduct three studies, employing diverse methodologies (a behavioral experiment, a vignette experiment, and a norm elicitation experiment), to investigate when and how norm enforcement patterns can be modified using norm interventions in the context of dishonesty. Our preregistered, three-part data collection effort explores the extent to which norm violations are sanctioned, the impact of norm-nudges on punishment behavior, and the connection to norm perception. Using a representative sample of US participants in Study 1, we present robust evidence that norm enforcement is sensitive not only to the magnitude of the observed transgression (i.e. the size of the lie) but also to its consequences (whether the lie addresses or creates payoff inequalities). We also find that norm enforcers respond to norm-nudges conveying social information about actual lying behavior or its social disapproval. The results of a separate vignette experiment in Study 2 are consistent with the results in our behavioral experiment, thus hinting at the generalizability of our findings. To understand the interplay of norms, information about them, and punishment, we examine norm perceptions across different transgressions in Study 3. We find that norm perceptions are malleable and norm-nudges are most effective when preexisting norms are ambiguous. In sum, we show how norm enforcement can be nudged and which factors matter for doing so across various contexts and discuss their policy implications.

Can monetary incentives overturn fairness-based decisions?

Fairness norms and resulting behaviours are an important prerequisite for cooperation in human societies. At the same time, financial incentives are commonly used to motivate social behaviours, yet it remains unclear how financial incentives affect fairness-based behaviours. Combining a decision paradigm from behavioural economics with hierarchical drift-diffusion modelling, we investigated the effect of different financial incentives on two types of fairness-based decisions in four experimental groups. In two groups, participants divided points between themselves and a disadvantaged person, inciting fairness-based compensation behaviour, in two other groups they divided points between themselves and a fairness violator, inciting fairness-based punishment behaviour. In addition, each group received financial incentives that were either aligned or in conflict with the respective fairness-based behaviour. This design allowed us to directly investigate how different incentives shape the cognitive mechanism of fairness-based decisions and whether these effects are comparable across different fairness domains (fairness-based punishment versus fairness-based compensation). Results showed that offering conflicting incentives diminished fairness-congruent decision behaviour and rendered the fairness-congruent decision process less efficient. These findings demonstrate that financial incentives can undermine fairness-based behaviour, and thus are relevant for the development of incentive schemes aimed at fostering cooperative behaviour.

Effects of a Nurturing Care Group behavior change program on child protection outcomes in Ghana: A controlled before and after trial

BackgroundAs part of an effort to rigorously apply behavioral science to child protection efforts, a behavior change model called Nurturing Care Groups (NCGs) was tested for effectiveness in changing child abuse and corporal punishment behaviors. ObjectiveThe primary research question was to what degree NCGs could change child protection knowledge, attitudes, and practices among caregivers in a low-cost program with broad reach, which could feasibly be scaled. Participants and settingThe NCG project was implemented in two distinct ecological zones in Ghana, reaching 73,959 caregivers of children under 5 across 41 communities; while 20 communities were control sites with no NCG intervention. MethodsStratified random sampling was used to select intervention area respondents. Cluster sampling was utilized in control areas, using the Probability Proportional to Size method. Standard measures were used to assess changes in practices of violence and abuse, stress experience and management, parenting techniques, and the household environment. Difference-in-difference linear regression was used to compare intervention and control results. ResultsIntervention areas demonstrated statistically-significant and substantial changes in reported knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to physical abuse and corporal punishment. Knowledge of negative impacts of stress on parenting, as well as stress reduction techniques increased in intervention areas, as did positive discipline and parenting practices. ConclusionsThe NCG model demonstrated important promising results for changing child protection behaviors in this descriptive study. Statistically-significant decreases in reported physical and psychological punishment and corresponding increases in reported positive discipline indicate that this may be an effective and low-cost intervention for child protection behavior change.

Children endorse deterrence motivations for third-party punishment but derive higher enjoyment from compensating victims

Children’s punishment behavior may be driven by both retribution and deterrence, but the potential primacy of either motive is unknown. Moreover, children’s punishment enjoyment and compensation enjoyment have never been directly contrasted. Here, British, Colombian, and Italian 7- to 11-year-old children (N = 123) operated a Justice System in which they viewed different moral transgressions in Minecraft, a globally popular video game, either face-to-face with an experimenter or over the internet. Children could respond to transgressions by punishing transgressors and compensating victims. The purpose of the system was framed in terms of retribution, deterrence, or compensation between participants. Children’s performance, endorsement, and enjoyment of punishment and compensation were measured, along with their endorsement of retribution versus deterrence as punishment justifications, during and/or after justice administration. Children overwhelmingly endorsed deterrence over retribution as their punishment justification irrespective of age. When asked to reproduce the presented frame in their own words, children more reliably reproduced the deterrence frame rather than the retribution frame. Punishment enjoyment decreased while compensation enjoyment increased over time. Despite enjoying compensation more, children preferentially endorsed punishment over compensation, especially with increasing age and transgression severity. Reported deterrent justifications, superior reproduction of deterrence framing, lower enjoyment of punishment than of compensation, and higher endorsement of punishment over compensation together suggest that children felt that they ought to mete out punishment as a means to deter future transgressions. Face-to-face and internet-mediated responses were not distinguishable, supporting a route to social psychology research with primary school-aged children unable to physically visit labs.

The value analysis of educational disciplinary policy from the perspective of three dimensions

In recent years, "educational punishment" has gradually become a hot issue of social concern, and the policy of educational punishment is constantly advancing. This paper analyzes the value of educational punishment policy from the three dimensions of phenomenon form, ontology form and policy process, and finds that: it is the value choice to solve the problem of "three neglect" of teachers and promote the all-round development of students; Its legitimacy is embodied in the legal existence of educational punishment power and reasonable educational punishment behavior is conducive to the maintenance of teaching order. The effect and room for improvement of educational punishment policy show its effectiveness.

The Impact of Baby Face on Third Party Punishment Behavior

The Impact of Baby Face on Third Party Punishment Behavior