This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Batson, C. D. Articles by Smith, E. C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Batson, C. D. Articles by Smith, E. C. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Does Personal Morality Exacerbate or Restrain Retaliation after Being Harmed?

University of Kansas

Mark J. Bowers

University of Kansas

Emily A. Leonard

University of Kansas

Emily C. Smith

University of Kansas

To examine the effect of level of moral responsibility on response to being harmed, 80 undergraduates each were initially given 10 raffle tickets. Half of the participants subsequently had 9 of their 10 tickets taken away and given to a fellow participant, whereas half did not. In each of these harm-done conditions, half of the participants were led to believe that the fellow participant intentionally took 9 of their tickets (either successfully or not), whereas half believed that the fellow participant did not intend them harm. Participants were then given a chance to take tickets from the fellow. Responses revealed two independent processes, one to reestablish distributive justice after tickets had been taken and the other to retaliate for harm intended. Level of moral responsibility had no effect on pursuit of distributive justice, but high moral responsibility restrained pursuit of retributive (retaliatory) justice. Possible reasons are proposed.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. D. Scott and K. A. Jehn About Face: How Employee Dishonesty Influences A Stakeholder's Image of an Organization Business Society, June 1, 2003; 42(2): 234 - 266. [Abstract] [PDF]

				I. van Beest, H. Wilke, and E. van Dijk The Excluded Player in Coalition Formation Pers Soc Psychol Bull, February 1, 2003; 29(2): 237 - 247. [Abstract] [PDF]