Pride and punishment: Entitled people's self‐promoting values motivate hierarchy‐restoring retribution

Abstract

What is the purpose of punishment? The current research shows that for entitled people—those with inflated self‐worth—justice is about maintaining societal hierarchies. Entitled people more strongly hold self‐enhancing values (power and achievement; Studies 1 and 3). They are also more likely, when thinking about justice for offenders, to adopt a hierarchy‐based justice orientation: Perceptions that crime threatens hierarchies, motives to restore those hierarchies, and support for retribution (Studies 2 and 3). Further, the relationship of entitlement to justice orientation is mediated by self‐enhancing values when entitlement is measured (Study 3) and manipulated (Studies 4, 5 and 6). Together these studies suggest that entitlement—and the resultant preoccupation with one's status—facilitates a view of justice as a hierarchy‐based transaction: one where criminal offenders and their victims exchange power and status. These findings reveal the self‐enhancing and hierarchy‐focused nature of entitlement, as well as the roots of retribution in concerns about status, power, and hierarchies.

Retribution as hierarchy regulation: Hierarchy preferences moderate the effect of offender socioeconomic status on support for retribution

“…The current research showed that support for retribution as a purpose of punishment is related to two factors: (1) the perceiver's preference for hierarchical social structure and (2) the criminal offender's status, or position in that hierarchy. These findings support hypotheses based on previous findings, which show that people may support retribution when concerned about regulating hierarchies (Gerber & Jackson, ; Okimoto et al ., ; Pratto et al ., ; Redford & Ratliff, ; Sidanius et al ., ; Wenzel et al ., ). We expected that people who prefer hierarchies would more strongly support retribution: not uniformly, but more strongly for low‐status offenders.…”

“…The current results join others in suggesting that support for retribution is related to hierarchy concerns (Gerber & Jackson, ; Okimoto et al ., ; Pratto et al ., ; Redford & Ratliff, ; Sidanius et al ., ; Wenzel et al ., ), but they also sharpen our view of that relationship by showing that it is moderated by offender status. While these previous findings suggest a uniform magnitude with which hierarchy preferences motivate punishment, the current research showed that hierarchy preferences motivate retributive punishment selectively, depending on the position of the offender in that hierarchy.…”

“…Multiple reasons for punishing may simultaneously motivate any given act of punishment, but retribution may be uniquely related to desires to regulate social hierarchies. Retribution is uniquely related to power and status concerns (Wenzel et al ., ) and is deployed to establish and maintain preferred distributions of social status (Gerber & Jackson, ; Redford & Ratliff, ). Retribution's appeal for regulating hierarchies may come from its ability to redistribute power and status.…”

“…People higher in SDO more strongly support punishment designed to establish and maintain power over criminal offenders (Gerber, ). And people motivated to enforce status boundaries with criminal offenders more strongly endorse retribution (Gerber & Jackson, ; Redford & Ratliff, ), especially when they think the offence violates power and status hierarchies (Wenzel et al ., ). People who are higher in trait verticality (power and socioeconomic status) reject norm violators, perhaps to best maintain their privileged hierarchical position (Stamkou, van Kleef, Homan, & Galinsky, ).…”

A status-seeking account of psychological entitlement

“…Moreover, people higher in entitlement attach importance to achievement in life (Redford & Ratliff, 2018), congruent with the expertise and social value required to attain prestige.…”