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Examining subjective and physiological responses to norm violation using text‐based vignettes
Author(s) -
Krumhuber Eva G.,
Tsankova Elena,
Kappas Arvid
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1002/ijop.12253
Subject(s) - psychology , norm (philosophy) , disgust , empathy , social psychology , trait , cognitive psychology , epistemology , anger , philosophy , computer science , programming language
In this article, we describe a paradigm using text‐based vignettes for the study of social and cultural norm violation. Towards this aim, a range of scenarios depicting instances of norm violations was generated and tested with respect to their ability in evoking subjective and physiological responses. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated 29 vignettes on how upsetting, excusable and realistic the described behaviour appeared to be. Based on those ratings we selected and extended three norm violation vignettes for Experiment 2 in which participants' physiological responses were obtained in addition to their subjective ratings. In both studies, the vignettes were successful in eliciting negative responses to norm violations and were significantly affected by the perceivers' level of ethnocultural empathy. The trait measure of cultural empathy further predicted facial electromyography ( EMG ) activity at muscle sites associated with disgust ( M. Levator Labii ), thereby suggesting a potential moral response to norm‐violating scenarios. We discuss the methodological merits and implications of this vignettes paradigm for investigating perceived norm transgressions and make recommendations for future work.