Item type:Article, Open Access

Letting off Steam! Experimental Evidence on Inappropriate Punishment

Abstract

Aggression is displaced when provocations cannot be directly retaliated against and when it is redirected towards a target innocent of any wrongdoing. While this phenomenon is widespread, it has not been widely explored in experimental economics. We fill this gap and find that a sizeable proportion of subjects (37%), when treated unfairly, punish co-players who are not at all responsible for the unfairness. When in a disadvantaged position, inequity-aversion seems to be the driving force of punishment, yet when treated fairly, some subjects (17%) exhibit status-seeking behavior. Moreover, students affiliated with an armed forces university are much more likely than regular students to engage in displaced aggression.

Metadata

show more
Khachatryan, Elina; Bühren, Christoph: Letting off Steam! Experimental Evidence on Inappropriate Punishment. In: , Jg. (2024-01-19), . DOI: https://doi.org/10.17192/es2024.0665.

License

This item has been published with the following license: In Copyright