Soft on crime: Patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage allocate reduced third-party punishment to violent criminals.

ABSTRACT: The human impulse to punish those who have unjustly harmed others (i.e., third-party punishment) is critical for stable, cooperative societies. Punishment selection is influenced by both harm outcome and the intent of the moral agent (i.e., the offender's knowledge of wrongdoing and desire that the prohibited consequence occur). We allocate severe punishments to those who commit violent crimes and milder punishments to those who commit non-violent crimes; and we allocate severe punishments to criminals who have malicious intent and milder punishments to criminals who lack malicious intent. Prior research has indicated that aversive, emotional responses of third-party judges may influence punishment allocation, as increased negative emotion correlates with more punitive punishments. Here, w

SUBMITTER: Asp EW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7771036 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature