Beyond retribution: The role of transformative justice motives for people's reactions to wrongdoers

Abstract

The present dissertation focuses on the role of transformative justice motives for people's reactions to wrongdoers. Findings from Studies 1a and 1b revealed punishment to be satisfying for punishers only if transgressors reacted to punishment with a change in attitude. Moreover, findings from Study 2 demonstrated that the effect of transgressor change on justice-related satisfaction is different from mere deterrence and not reducible to retributive effects of inferred suffering. Study 3 examined the transgressor's display of remorse as one important marker of authenticity of change. Finally, Study 4 explored the origins of transformative justice motives and found that they are more relevant in ingroup than in outgroup contexts. While Studies 1 and 2 only looked at people who decided to punish, Studies 3 and 4 also included people who decided not to punish. Findings suggest that transformative motives seem to generally arise after transgressions and can be expressed through punishment or other means. All in all, the present set of studies highlights that people do not only seem to give transgressors what they deserve. They hope to transform transgressors and make them understand that what they did was wrong. As social beings, people seem to strive for reconciliation and hope to achieve a change in attitude in those who have treated them unfairly.