Does Aggression Deter or Invite Reciprocal Behavior? Considering Coercive Capacity

Benard, Stephen; Berg, Mark; Mize, Trent

Work Description

Title: Does Aggression Deter or Invite Reciprocal Behavior? Considering Coercive Capacity Open Access Deposited

Attribute	Value
Abstract	How do people respond to aggression? Theory differs on whether aggressive behavior deters antagonists or provokes retaliation, and the empirical evidence is mixed. We bridge contradictory findings in the literature by identifying a previously unexamined moderating variable: the extent to which individuals can increase their coercive capability (which we call “escalating”). We argue that when escalating is costly, aggression deters potential antagonists. In contrast, when escalating is less costly, behaving aggressively fails to deter aggressive partners. We test these predictions in two behavioral experiments that manipulate the cost of escalating and whether interaction partners are aggressive or deferential. We find support for deterrence predictions when escalating is either high or low cost, but not when it is medium cost. Taken together, we provide evidence that the cost of escalation plays a key role in decisions about aggression.
Methodology	n/a
Description	This collection includes data, code, zTree files used to conduct the experiment, and the experimental protocol.
Creator	Benard, Stephen Berg, Mark Mize, Trent
Depositor	dapscott@iu.edu
Contact information	sbenard@iu.edu
Keyword	experimental social psychology social exchange social dilemmas prosocial behavior power processes intergroup conflict
Date coverage	2017-09-30
Citations to related material
Publisher	Sage
Resource type	Dataset
Last modified	10/05/2020
Language	English
License	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

To Cite this Work:
Benard, S., Berg, M., Mize, T. Does Aggression Deter or Invite Reciprocal Behavior? Considering Coercive Capacity [Data set]. Indiana University - DataCORE.

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	Replication_Files.zip	2020-10-05	2020-10-05	3.92 MB	Open Access	View Details Download

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