The source of punishment matters: Third-party punishment restrains observers from selfish behaviors better than does second-party punishment by shaping norm perceptions.

ABSTRACT: Punishment aims to deter individuals' selfish behaviors, but it can occasionally backfire. Some scholars have proposed promoting prosocial behaviors using punishment that communicates positive social norms because it provides additional motivation. However, it is unclear which factors affect the norm expressive function of punishment. This study proposes that third-party punishment communicates more positive normative information, and thus, promotes more prosocial behavior in observers than does second-party punishment. Using dictator games, we investigated the effects of second-party punishment compared to third-party punishment of another's unfair sharing on observers' norm perceptions and subsequent sharing decision-making. Two experiments consistently found that third-party punishment

SUBMITTER: Chen H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7051041 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature