Signaling When No One Is Watching: A Reputation Heuristics Account of Outrage and Punishment in One-shot Anonymous Interactions

Jordan, J.J. & Rand, D. G. (2019). Signaling when nobody is watching: A reputation heuristics account of outrage and punishment in one-shot anonymous interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000186

93 Pages Posted: 17 May 2017 Last revised: 25 Sep 2019

See all articles by Jillian Jordan

Jillian Jordan

Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

David G. Rand

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Date Written: March 20, 2019

Abstract

Moralistic punishment can confer reputation benefits by signaling trustworthiness to observers. But why do people punish even when nobody is watching? We argue that people often rely on the heuristic that reputation is typically at stake, such that reputation concerns can shape moralistic outrage and punishment even in one-shot anonymous interactions. We then support this account using data from Amazon Mechanical Turk. In anonymous experiments, subjects (total n = 8440) report more outrage in response to others’ selfishness when they cannot signal their trustworthiness through direct prosociality (sharing with a third party)—such that if the interaction was not anonymous, punishment would have greater signaling value. Furthermore, mediation analyses suggest that sharing opportunities reduce outrage via reputation concerns. Additionally, anonymous experiments measuring costly punishment (total n = 6076) show the same pattern: subjects punish more when sharing is not possible. And importantly, moderation analyses provide some evidence that sharing opportunities do not merely influence outrage and punishment by inducing empathy towards selfishness or hypocrisy aversion among non-sharers. Finally, we support the specific role of heuristics by investigating individual differences in deliberateness. Less deliberative individuals (who typically rely more on heuristics) are more sensitive to sharing opportunities in our anonymous punishment experiments, but, critically, not in punishment experiments where reputation is at stake (total n = 3422); and not in our anonymous outrage experiments (where condemning is costless). Together, our results suggest that when nobody is watching, reputation cues nonetheless can shape outrage and—among individuals who rely on heuristics—costly punishment.

Suggested Citation

Jordan, Jillian and Rand, David G., Signaling When No One Is Watching: A Reputation Heuristics Account of Outrage and Punishment in One-shot Anonymous Interactions (March 20, 2019). Jordan, J.J. & Rand, D. G. (2019). Signaling when nobody is watching: A reputation heuristics account of outrage and punishment in one-shot anonymous interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000186, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2969063 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2969063

Jillian Jordan (Contact Author)

Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University ( email )

2211 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

David G. Rand

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ( email )

77 Massachusetts Avenue
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.daverand.org

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