Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
11-2010
Abstract
Recent research suggests that individuals reward honesty more than they punish deception. Five experiments showed that different patterns of rewards and punishments emerge for North American and East Asian cultures. Experiment 1 demonstrated that Americans rewarded more than they punished, whereas East Asians rewarded and punished in equivalent amounts. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that these divergent patterns by culture could be explained by greater social mobility experienced by Americans. Experiments 4 and 5 examined how certain consequences of social mobility, approach—avoidance behavioral motivations and trust and felt obligation, can lead to disparate reward and punishment decisions within the two cultures. Moreover, Experiment 4 revealed that Americans exhibited stronger evaluative reactions toward deception but stronger behavioral intentions toward honesty; East Asians did not exhibit this evaluative—behavioral asymmetry. The cross-cultural implications for understanding rewards and punishments in an increasingly globalized world are discussed.
Keywords
reward, punishment, honesty, deception, culture, social mobility
Discipline
Multicultural Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume
36
Issue
11
First Page
1529
Last Page
1542
ISSN
0146-1672
Identifier
10.1177/0146167210385921
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
WANG, Cynthia S., & LEUNG, Angela K. Y..(2010). The Cultural Dynamics of Rewarding Honesty and Punishing Deception. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(11), 1529-1542.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1024
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167210385921
Included in
Multicultural Psychology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Social Psychology Commons