Errors in Judgment: Status, Values, and Morals Influence on Judgments of Guilt and Punishment By Jessica Dawson Department of Sociology Duke University Date:_____________________ Approved: ___________________________ Stephen Vaisey, Supervisor __________________________ Lynn Smith-Lovin, Chair __________________________ Edward Tiryakian __________________________ Kenneth Spenner Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2016 ABSTRACT Errors in Judgment: Status, Values, and Morals Influence on Judgments of Guilt and Punishment By Jessica Dawson Department of Sociology Duke University Date:_____________________ Approved: ___________________________ Stephen Vaisey, Supervisor __________________________ Lynn Smith-Lovin, Chair __________________________ Edward Tiryakian __________________________ Kenneth Spenner An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2016 Copyright by Jessica Dawson 2016 Abstract This study investigates how actor status, moral foundations, and individual values influence the moral judgments of guilt and punishment. I argue that the consequences of individual values for actions can be understood only if considered alongside organizational values and larger frameworks of institutional logics. Building on Zerubavel’s (1999) conception of a three-level cognition, I argue for a tri-level conception of values and morality in order to more fully understand how moral judgments work within the social context that shapes them. Zerubavel (1999) argued that cognition operated at the individual, social, and macro levels. Based on original research, I offer evidence of three levels of morality. I evaluate individual level morality two ways. First, I evaluate individual moral culture using Schwartz values (Schwartz 2012; Vaisey and Miles 2014). I then account for the social level through the impact of the organization on moral culture measure through the use of status hierarchies (Sauder, Lynn, and Podolny 2012). Finally, I account for the macro level and evaluate broader cultural morality using moral foundations theory (Graham et al. 2016; Kesebir and Haidt 2010). Taken together, these three levels of morality provide a more ecologically valid understanding of how moral culture operates from the individual level to the meso-social level, and to the macro level culture. iv I demonstrate the complex ways in which moral judgments are influenced by universal moral concerns contained in individual characteristics, organizational influences, and culturally anchored institutional logics. I find that actor status most strongly predicts the outcomes of guilt and punishment, demonstrating that social context has a powerful influence on individual moral judgments. Moral foundations theory conceptions of harm do not predict judgments of guilt and punishment, but Schwartz values do influence these moral judgments. The research provides a foundation for future research on the influence of actor status on moral judgments of guilt and punishment beyond the limited moral community of the current study. v Dedication To my professors, friends, and classmates who replaced the voice in my head that said I couldn’t do this with louder ones that refused to let me believe it. vi Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... vi Contents ........................................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... xii 1. The Problem of Moral Universals ........................................................................................... 1 2. The Halo Effect: How Status Influences Moral Judgments in the Moral Community of the U.S. Army ................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Durkheim’s Morality and Moral Communities ........................................................... 9 2.3 The Act Approach .......................................................................................................... 10 2.4 The Status Approach ...................................................................................................... 12 2.5 The Deviance Approach ................................................................................................ 15 2.6 The Present Study ........................................................................................................... 19 2.6.1 Data ............................................................................................................................. 21 2.6.2 Method ........................................................................................................................ 22 2.6.1.1 Experiment 1 ......................................................................................................... 22 2.6.1.2 Experiment 2 ......................................................................................................... 23 2.6.3 Measures ..................................................................................................................... 25 2.6.4 Analytic Approach .................................................................................................... 29 vii 2.7 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................. 30 2.8 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 42 3. Individuals, Organizations, and Culture: Evidence for a Tri-Level Conception of Morality ........................................................................................................................................ 45 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 45 3.2 The Abandonment and Slow Return of Values ......................................................... 47 3.3 Schwartz Values ........................................................................................................... 49 3.4 Moral Foundations as Measures of Institutional Logics ........................................... 52 3.5 Values in Organizations ................................................................................................ 54 3.6 The Present Study ........................................................................................................... 56 3.7 Data and Methods .......................................................................................................... 58 3.7.1 Data ............................................................................................................................. 58 3.7.2 Method ........................................................................................................................ 63 3.7.3 Measures ..................................................................................................................... 65 3.7.4 Analytic Approach .................................................................................................... 66 3.8 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................. 68 3.8.1 Guilt ............................................................................................................................. 68 3.8.2 Punishment ................................................................................................................ 73 3.9 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 76 3.10 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 77 4. Beyond Moral Foundations ................................................................................................... 81 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 81 viii 4.2 Individual or Group Moral Concerns ......................................................................... 85 4.3 Moral Psychology and Morality ................................................................................... 87 4.4 Sociology and Sacredness .............................................................................................. 90 4.5 Universal or Group-Based Morality ...........................................................................