Jann, Ben; Coutts, Elisabeth (27 March 2017). Social Status and Peer-Punishment: Findings from Two Road Traffic Field Experiments (University of Bern Social Sciences Working Papers 27). Bern: University of Bern, Department of Social Sciences
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In a seminal experiment, Doob and Gross (1968) examined the influence of social status on peer-punishment of norm violations in traffic. They observed an inverse relationship between the economic status indicated by a car that was blocking an intersection and the punishment meted out to the driver of that car, with “punishment” taking the form of a honk of the car horn. In a more recent experiment, Diekmann et al. (1996) noted the status and reactions of the cars blocked by a single mid-status car. Blocked drivers at the wheel of a higher-status car were found to punish more aggressively than drivers of a lower-status car. Our study employs a combined design to separate the effects of driver and blocker status. In two field experiments, we varied the status of the norm-violating car and recorded the status of the blocked driver’s (i.e. the experimental subject’s) car. Our results provide evidence that social distance facilitates peer-punishment. Punishment was expressed less readily when the blocked and blocking cars indicated a similar social status.
Item Type: |
Working Paper |
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Division/Institute: |
03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Institute of Sociology |
UniBE Contributor: |
Jann, Ben |
Subjects: |
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology |
Series: |
University of Bern Social Sciences Working Papers |
Publisher: |
University of Bern, Department of Social Sciences |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Ben Jann |
Date Deposited: |
15 May 2018 11:15 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:12 |
JEL Classification: |
C93 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.113480 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/113480 |