ThreatValPun · Perceptions of threat to personal values shape punishment judgments through social identity threat
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-09-01 → 2019-08-31
- EU contribution
- €242,930
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Perceptions of threat to personal values shape punishment judgments through social identity threat
In modern societies, values and ideologies are expected to rule people’s political decisions (i.e. elections and votes) and politicians’ governing behavior and decisions. However, current events and the political context in Europe and in the US point to instances of political in-group bias on various evaluations and judgments. For example, attitudes towards Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal server for her electronic correspondence appeared to be strongly influenced by one’s political group: a disqualifying crime for Republicans, and an insignificant detail for Democrats. It is important to understand these biases in order to ensure fair democratic processes, and to protect non-privileged people and groups from underserved treatments. The present project proposed to understand this phenomenon. We set up to provide a theoretical model accounting for these processes be reviewing the relevant literature on the topic in psychology, neuro-economy and cognitive sciences. We then tested the model through experimental and neuroscience methods, and provided empirical support for this model in an American and European context. We conclude that political identity is a factor contributing to political belief and political justice judgments. This work should, eventually, allow the creation of interventions to reduce in-group bias in political and other intergroup contexts.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
In modern societies, the criminal justice system is entrusted to punish norm violators in a fair and impartial way. Yet, punishment judgments are subject to biases, and are sometimes shaped by extralegal factors, as illustrated for example by the over-representation of African-Americans in inmates in the US. This project investigates one such factor, namely perceived threats to one’s personal values. We argue that even when unrelated to the wrongdoing, value-violations represent a threat to one’s personal values and to one’s identity. As such, value-violations trigger a motivation to restore the threatened values and identity, leading to differential punishment judgments as a function of the target’s fit or misfit with the perceiver’s values. We test this crucial role of perceptions of threat to personal values in two lines of research, using a combination of traditional experimental research methods, and modern measurement methods. In the line of research A, we aim to identify moderators of the effect of personal value on punishment judgments. Experimentally increasing or removing threat to values will allow us to gain a clearer understanding of the causal processes at play. In the line of research B, we aim to identify the neural processes underlying the effects of perceptions of threat to personal values on punishment judgments. Using fMRI, lesion patients and cardiovascular indices, we will gain complementary perspectives on the dynamics at play. As a result, the present proposal will enhance knowledge in the fields of values, social justice and morality, but also offer applicable strategies to reduce the impact of threat to values on real-life potentially consequential judgments, for example in the legal system.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN · LeidenCoordinatorNetherlands
- NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · NEW YORKUnited States
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/703401
- https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/social-behavioural-sciences/psychology/social-economic-and-organisational-psychology
Data: CORDIS, © European Union