Patrolling The Powerful: The Reputational Benefits of Third-Party Punishing Powerholders

Authors:

Abstract: Third-party punishment – when observers confront selfish transgressors – enhances reputation for high moral character, which leads to indirect reciprocity from other group-members. We argue that the benefits of third-party punishment are enhanced when individuals punish a transgressor with high versus low power, because punishing a powerholder elicits greater risk of retaliation and is therefore more costly, meaning that the punishment is perceived as more altruistic. We consistently find evidence of this through three pre-registered studies conducted with working adults in the United Kingdom (N = 1,123). We demonstrate that third-party punishment accrues greater reputation for high moral character when it is directed towards high versus low power transgressors (Studies 1 and 2). We then show that third-party punishing powerholders increases indirect reciprocity received from others in a dictator game (Study 3).

Track: TEAM

Keywords: third-party punishment, power, reputation