Motivated Offense: Group Membership, Status Competition, Offense, and the Desire to Punish

• In Event: Top Papers in Intergroup Communication

Abstract

Norms of political correctness dictate that people should avoid making “offensive” comments. While there is research on judgments of offense, it involves comparing sensitivity to criticisms delivered by ingroup versus outgroup members. Researchers have not yet addressed why individual differences in offense judgments exist, and little attention has been directed at offense judgments that are generated by political correctness concerns. In an experiment testing the influence of the group membership and status of a speaker, the results of this study indicate that both group membership and status play a role in attributions of offense, meaning that finding comments offensive and sanctioning offenders is not purely motivated by morality, but may instead be a strategic reaction in order to gain status.

Authors

• Becky Robinson, U of California - Santa Barbara

• Scott A. Reid, U of California - Santa Barbara