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Chapter 12 - Essentialist Views of Criminal Behavior Predict Increased Punitiveness

from Religion and Morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

By
Justin W. Martin ,
Sophie Charles  and
Larisa Heiphetz
Edited by
Julien Musolino ,
Joseph Sommer  and
Pernille Hemmer
Julien Musolino
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Joseph Sommer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Pernille Hemmer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
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Summary

One bad act can permanently stain perceptions of someone’s character. Being labeled a criminal potentially has such an enduring stigma because of people’s willingness to believe that people have an internal, unchanging essence leading them to transgress. In Study 1, we developed a novel scale to assess individual differences in essentialist beliefs about criminality and found that these beliefs predicted punitiveness. Study 2 replicated these findings and also revealed that participants’ attitudes toward people who had committed crimes mediated this link. Study 3 found that participants who held essential beliefs about criminality were more likely to choose retributive punishments over those that prevented future harm. These results illustrate the importance of essentialist beliefs in the context of the legal system.

Keywords

criminal justiceessentialismlawlegal systemmoral cognitionmoral psychologymoralitypsychology and lawpunishment
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cognitive Science of Belief
A Multidisciplinary Approach
 , pp. 254 - 276
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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