Respect and threat: authority-subordinate disparities in responses to transgressions

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/238182

Title: Respect and threat: authority-subordinate disparities in responses to transgressions
Author(s): Sivasubramaniam, Diane; Heuer, Larry; Becker, Sarah Suzanne; Hobgood, Chelsea Louis; Newkirk, Leah
Abstract: Those who enact legal procedures (authorities) and those targeted by procedures (subordinates) differ in their notions of justice. This study explored the conditions under which this disparity occurs. Participants read a vignette describing the interrogation of an airline passenger, in a 2 (Role: Authority, Subordinate) x 2 (Respect: High, Low) x 3 (Threat: Low, High, Moral) between-subjects experimental design. Results indicated differences between those randomly assigned to the authority and subordinate roles, driven by differences in the moral significance of a perceived threat. Authorities perceived a passenger with harmful intentions as more morally offensive, and were more punitive in response.
Publication type: Conference paper
Source: Paper presented at 'Bridging the Discipline', Annual Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Jacksonville, Florida, United States, 05-08 March 2008
Publication year: 2008
Keyword(s): Authority-subordinate; Fairness judgments; Perception; Procedural fairness
Publisher: American Psychology-Law Society
Publisher URL: http://www.ap-ls.org/conferences/apls2008/index.html
Peer reviewed