Interdependent Decision-Making: Co-offending Thresholds and Shifting Perceptions of Risk and Reward

• In Event: Theoretical Perspectives of Co-Offending

Abstract

The threshold model of collective behavior assumes that the decision to engage in group crime is conditional on the behavior of others; individuals believe that engaging in collective crime maximizes their utility when a sufficient number of others have joined in the act first. In framing this argument, Granovetter (1978) did not fully specify how or why group involvement (as opposed to solo endeavors) causes a shift in decision making. The current study leveraged hypothetical scenarios with nearly 600 participants to measure the extent to which perceived sanction risks, informal costs, and social rewards change as a consequence of having an increasing number of co-offenders. Findings focus both on the general tendency of these perceptions to increase or decrease, as well as the functional form of these changes.

Authors

• Jean Marie McGloin, University of Maryland

• Kyle Thomas, University of Maryland