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Belief about immutability of moral character and punitiveness toward criminal offenders
Author(s) -
Tam KimPong,
Shu TseMei,
Ng Henry KinShing,
Tong YukYue
Publication year - 2013
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.1559-1816.2013.01041.x
Subject(s) - psychology , immutability , social psychology , moral character , attribution , criminal justice , character (mathematics) , criminology , geometry , computer security , mathematics , computer science , blockchain
The present research examined the association between belief about immutability of moral character and punitiveness toward criminal offenders. Overall, participants who believed that moral character is immutable (entity theorists) were more punitive than those who believed that it is changeable (incremental theorists). More important, the present research identified two mediational paths: Entity theorists made more internal attribution of criminal behavior and held stronger expectation of offenders' recidivism, both of which in turn led to stronger punitiveness. Also, contrary to some researchers' speculation, entity theorists did not perceive less controllability in criminal behavior. Implications for implicit theory research and criminal justice research are discussed.