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What Determines Social Control? People's Reactions to Counternormative Behaviors in Urban Environments 1
Author(s) -
Chaurand Nadine,
Brauer Markus
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00365.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , witness , feeling , bystander effect , affect (linguistics) , control (management) , legitimacy , action (physics) , communication , computer science , physics , management , quantum mechanics , politics , political science , law , economics , programming language
Social control refers to any reaction by which a bystander communicates to the “perpetrator” of an uncivil behavior that his or her action is not acceptable. In 3 field studies, we examined the factors that affect people's tendency to exert social control. Passersby in the streets were asked how they would react were they to witness different uncivil behaviors. They also rated their appraisal of the situation and the emotions they would feel. The results suggest that 3 factors are primary determinants of social control: the feeling of responsibility to exert it; the perceived legitimacy of social control in the situation; and the extent to which bystanders felt hostile emotions. These results have implications for how to reduce uncivil behaviors.