Field Experiments Examining the Culture of Honor: The Role of Institutions in Perpetuating Norms about Violence
Open accessAbstract
Two field experiments illustrate how institutions of the U.S. South and West can help perpetuate violence related to a culture of honor. In Study 1, employers across the United States were sent letters from job applicants who had allegedly killed someone in an honor-related conflict. Southern and western companies were more likely than their northern counterparts to respond in an understanding and cooperative way. In Study 2, newspapers were sent facts for a story concerning a stabbing in response to a family insult. Southern and western papers created stories that were more sympathetic toward the perpetrator and presented his actions as more justified than northern papers did. Control conditions in both studies showed that the greater sympathy of southern and western institutions involves honor-related violence, not all violence or crime in general. Findings highlight the importance of examining the role of institutional behavior in perpetuating culture.
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Later studies using correspondence tests report that, all else equal, contact with the criminal justice system leads to worse employment opportunities.
“Each of these studies reports the similar finding that, all else equal, contact with the criminal justice system leads to worse employment opportunities.”
From The Mark of a Criminal Record (2003) · cites this paper as Cohen and Nisbett 1997
Study 1 (p. 3) is a correspondence-style employment test, and the Discussion (p. 10) recounts an employer saying he could not hire the applicant because of legal issues. But both applicant letters described a criminal conviction, so the study did not compare applicants with and without criminal-justice contact or establish the claimed general effect on employment opportunities. The Results (p. 5) also say the job-availability contrast was not significant. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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References 47 · Cited by 255
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- Authors
- Cohen, D., & Nisbett, R. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cohen, Dov
- ORCID
- Cohen, Dov
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1997-11
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1188-1199
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2060685252
- Cited by
- 255
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 9.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Keywords
- honor culture, honour-related violence, regional variation, Southern United States, American West, hiring decisions, media framing, intergroup conflict
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