Positive and negative deviance: More fuel for a controversy∗

While it is quite clear that there IS a theoretical and empirical accumulation of knowledge in the area of the sociological study of deviance which supports the viability of the notion of “positive deviance,” it also seems that the overwhelming majority of sociologists of deviance reject this possible paradigmatic shift. Hence, the voices “pushing” this shift are generally quiet, typically hesitant and the debate is made on the margins of the acceptable in deviance research. What we may be witnessing here is an attempt to introduce a change into the boundaries of a specific scientific paradigm (to the extent that such a paradigm indeed exists), and the typical reaction in the form of “resistance to innovation.” Once accepted, it is quite clear that sociologists of deviance, as well as others, will have to think in different terms, to develop different research strategies and to acquire new skills ‐ methodological and analytical. In this respect, the position of sociologists of deviance is better than that of criminologists because the latter really work with those acts that were defined by society as negatives ("crimes"). Sociologists of deviance are not limited by this self imposed barricade, hence, they can broaden their view and break new grounds. Grappling with the concept of “positive deviance” is one possible and exciting route.     

Self‐esteem and anomie: An integration of Adler and Merton as a theory of deviance

The purpose of this paper is to show that while anomie theory on the social level offers a valid explanation of deviance, in order to understand the phenomenon in its entirety, we must consider the individual level as well. The psycho‐dynamic dimension of individual action is a crucial component of deviant behavior and one which must be integrated into a broader theory of overall deviance. With this in mind we will attempt to integrate the social and the psychological by incorporating the Adlerian and Mertonian models in order to create a more dynamic theory of deviance.     

Bond to Society,Collectivism, and Conformity: A Comparative Study of Japanese and American College Students

An argument is developed that the purported collectivism in Japanese society generates stronger social bonds in Japan than in the more individualistic United States, which might then explain the lower level of deviance often found in Japan. We test this using survey data from samples of Japanese and American college students on measures of deviance and social bonds. Results indicate that Japanese students engage in significantly less deviance than Americans, and although variables from Hirschi's (1969 Hirschi , Travis. 1969 . Causes of Delinquency . Edison, NJ : Transaction Publishers . [Google Scholar]) social control theory behave similarly across cultures as predictors of deviance, the theory failed to account for the lower level of deviance among Japanese.     

But I Still Feel Guilt: A Test of a Moral Disengagement Propensity Model

ABSTRACT

We explored the impact of moral disengagement on individual experiences of guilt. We modeled three forms of workplace deviance (withdrawal, interpersonal deviance, and work-family deviance) as mediators between the propensity to morally disengage and guilt, and also includes the moderating effects of perceived work hours culture. Data were collected from 226 employees matched with a colleague and spouse. Results demonstrated that moral disengagement released individuals who engaged in interpersonal and work-family deviance from subsequent feelings of guilt, but only reduced feelings of guilt for those who withdrew. We also found an interactive effect of perceived work hours culture on the relationships between moral disengagement propensity and all three forms of deviance. The indirect effect from moral disengagement propensity to guilt through withdrawal was stronger when perceived work hours was high.     

Religion and Anti-Immigration Sentiments in Context: Field Studies in Jerusalem

ABSTRACT

Political and social changes in the past decade have rendered questions about religion and immigration more salient than ever. However, we know very little about the potential impact of religion as it operates in the real world on attitudes toward immigrants. In this investigation, we tested whether and how contextual religious cues in the public sphere might affect tolerance toward immigrants. In two studies, we compared the effects of a religious and a secular context (Study 1: religious location; Study 2: religious attire) on attitudes toward Jewish immigrants (i.e., a religious ingroup) and non-Jewish immigrants (i.e., a religious outgroup). Across studies, contextual religious cues predicted ingroup favoritism, as expressed by less social rejection toward religious ingroups and less support for anti-immigration policies affecting religious ingroups. However, contextual religious cues were unrelated to anti-immigration attitudes toward religious outgroups. In Study 2, these patterns were moderated by participants’ religiosity, such that they were found among more (but not fewer) religious participants. These findings extend prior laboratory findings and shed light on how religion influences attitudes toward immigration in rich and complex real environments.     

Psychological and Social Factors as Predictors of Online and Offline Deviant Behavior among Japanese Adolescents

The rise of cyberspace and technological advancement has created new opportunities for deviant behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate online and offline deviant behavior in a sample of high school students, as well as compare a number of theoretical frameworks for predicting deviance. Employing structural equation modeling, the findings of the study indicated that one’s normative beliefs or psychological factors are more important than social factors when it comes to deviant behavior. Attitudes toward violence, low self-control, and peer attachment were positively associated with offline deviance, while parental attachment and neighborhood attachment had negative associations. For online deviance, toxic online disinhibition and attitudes toward violence were positive predictors, while parental attachment had a negative association.     

The Development of Romantic Partner Involvement and Tolerance of Deviance among Juvenile Offenders: Relevance for Offending Behaviors in Early Adulthood

ABSTRACT

This study sought to elucidate heterogeneity in developmental patterns of romantic relationship characteristics and examine the relevance of patterns for predicting offending in adulthood. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to elucidate trajectory groups describing developmental heterogeneity of odds of having a romantic partner and romantic partners’ tolerance of deviance. Poisson regression was used to estimate the effects of group assignments for predicting offending. Three- and four-group models best fit the romantic partner characteristics data. Consistently high odds of having a romantic partner and consistently seeking partners with high tolerance for deviance was associated with greater offending frequency in adulthood.     

Acts against the workplace: Social bonding and employee deviance

Research into the phenomenon of workplace deviance has separately focused on two types of employee rule‐breaking behavior, 1) acts against the property and assets of the organization and 2) various types of counter‐productive behavior. In an attempt to compare the theoretical and empirical similarity of these two forms of employee deviance, this paper examines the self‐reported involvement in both property and production deviance among a population of employees randomly sampled from three industry sectors and three metropolitan areas. Utilizing a weighted least squares logit regression analysis, the findings support continued conceptual separation of these two forms of employee rule‐breaking as they seem to be explained by slightly different configurations of the “social bonding” model. Involvement in property deviance seems to be primarily the result of a lack of future “commitment” to the organization, while counter‐productive behavior is better understood using a combination of “commitment, attachment, and involvement” variables in the model. Further, both forms of workplace deviance were significantly more likely to involve younger employees.     

Individual Differences in the Context‐Dependent Recruitment of Cognitive Control: Evidence From Action Versus State Orientation

The ability to flexibly adapt to deviations from optimal performance is an important aspect of self‐control. In the present study, the authors present first evidence that the personality trait action versus state orientation (Kuhl, 2000) modulates the ability of adaptive control adjustments in response to experienced conflicts. Sixty‐two German individuals with extreme scores on the action‐state dimension performed a response interference task, that is, 31 extreme action‐oriented individuals (30 females; M_age = 20.35 years) and 31 extreme state‐oriented individuals (20 females; M_age = 23.23 years), respectively. Action‐oriented individuals displayed a stronger conflict adaptation effect as evidenced by a stronger reduction of interference on trials following conflict. These results were further corroborated by a correlational analysis including a sample of 105 participants: the higher the score on the action‐state dimension, the lower the interference effect following conflict (i.e., stronger conflict adaptation). The results provide evidence that even low‐level, bottom‐up‐driven processes of self‐control such as conflict adaptation are systematically moderated by individual differences in control modes and provide insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying action versus state orientation.     

From face to face: the contribution of facial mimicry to cognitive and emotional empathy

ABSTRACT

Despite advances in the conceptualisation of facial mimicry, its role in the processing of social information is a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between mimicry and cognitive and emotional empathy. To assess mimicry, facial electromyography was recorded for 70 participants while they completed the Multifaceted Empathy Test, which presents complex context-embedded emotional expressions. As predicted, inter-individual differences in emotional and cognitive empathy were associated with the level of facial mimicry. For positive emotions, the intensity of the mimicry response scaled with the level of state emotional empathy. Mimicry was stronger for the emotional empathy task compared to the cognitive empathy task. The specific empathy condition could be successfully detected from facial muscle activity at the level of single individuals using machine learning techniques. These results support the view that mimicry occurs depending on the social context as a tool to affiliate and it is involved in cognitive as well as emotional empathy.     

Attitudes toward health-messages: The link between perceived attention and subjective strength

IntroductionMany efforts are invested in promoting healthy attitudes and behaviors; nonetheless there is no clear, definitive evidence of sustained effectiveness of those efforts in all cases.ObjectiveThe present study examined the role of perceived attention in changing attitudes toward vegetable consumption as well as the perceived stability and resistance of those changes (attitude strength).MethodParticipants were randomly assigned to read a strong or weak health communication arguing in favor of vegetable consumption. After reading the message, participants reported attitudes toward this health issue, the perceived attention, and the perceived strength associated with their evaluations.ResultsParticipants who reported high (vs. low) perceived attention showed a greater effect of argument quality on persuasion. Furthermore, such participants also reported stronger attitudes compared to those who reported low perceived attention.ConclusionThis study showed that attitudes toward vegetable consumption can be changed after reading a persuasive message, and that the extent of perceived attention moderated the extent to which those changes were perceived as stable and resistant (stronger attitudes).     

Unpacking the Role of Conflict in Peer Relationships: Implications for Peer Deviance and Crime

ABSTRACT

Although criminologists have long recognized the role that peers play in crime, the specific mechanisms responsible for this relationship have been difficult to isolate. Drawing from the perspectives of differential coercion and social support and differential association, we examine how one type of coercion among friends – conflict – moderates the peer deviance/crime relationship. Using dyadic data, greater levels of conflict are related to higher levels of deviance and conflict weakens the peer deviance–crime relationship. Overall, conflict plays a dual role by relating to higher amounts of deviance while jointly reducing the influence of peer deviance on crime.     

Intellectual humility and religious tolerance

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship between (a) intellectual humility toward religious beliefs and values and (b) religious tolerance. Pastors who identified as Christian (N = 196) completed measures of conservatism, religious commitment, intellectual humility toward religious beliefs and values, and religious tolerance. Intellectual humility was a positive predictor of religious tolerance, even when controlling for conservatism and religious commitment. An interaction was found between exposure to religious diversity and intellectual humility, such that exposure to religious diversity was positively related to religious tolerance only for participants who reported high levels of intellectual humility. We conclude by discussing limitations, areas for future research, and implications for interfaith dialog and engagement.     

Linking extreme response style to response processes: A cross‐cultural mixed methods approach

The aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of extreme response style in cross‐cultural research by integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence in a mixed methods design. In the quantitative phase, indexes of extreme response style, derived from quality of life measures from different international studies, were compared between Spain and the Netherlands. Results indicated that extreme responding was more common among Spanish than among Dutch in endorsement of items, but that the opposite was found for frequency scales including never as a response anchor. In the qualitative phase, cognitive interviews were conducted with 25 participants in each country. The integration of quantitative results and qualitative findings suggests that country differences in extreme response style may stem from various sources, including the more independent evaluation of each item by Dutch, the stronger connotations of never for Spanish and stronger emotions triggered by specific topics such as work satisfaction that was more strongly associated with insecurity for Spanish. It is concluded that the integration of quantitative and qualitative evidence can help to understand cross‐cultural similarities and differences in extreme response style.     

Attitudes toward women,violence, and rape: A comparison of convicted rapists and other felons

Literature in the area of rape has been dominated by the psychiatric perspective leading to the view of rape as an individualistic, ideosyncratic and psychopathological problem. This leads to a conception of the rapist as a special criminal who is somehow different from his fellow prisoners. This paper proposes to study rapists as emotionally average men who have been socialized to view aggressive sexual behavior as appropriate in various situations. A comparison of rapists’ attitudes toward women, violence and rape with that of other felons reveals that their rape relevant attitudes are more extreme. It is proposed that the prevailing rape myths that exist in the society at large serve the function of providing excuses and justifications for rapists.     

Investigating curvilinear relationships of explicit and implicit aggression with workplace outcomes

ABSTRACT

Although previous research has demonstrated the value of integrating explicit and implicit measures of aggression for predicting workplace outcomes, such investigations only examined linear and interactive effects. Here we examine nonlinear (i.e., curvilinear) effects of explicit and implicit aggression, which revealed subtleties in the manifestation of aggression. We found significant curvilinear effects of explicit aggression on peer-reported deviance (property deviance, production deviance, and personal aggression). In each case, deviance was lowest when explicit aggression was low, and increased as explicit aggression increased. However, production and property deviance decreased at elevated levels of explicit aggression. In contrast, for disciplinary actions, explicit and implicit aggression interacted, but there was also a curvilinear effect of implicit aggression. This pattern led to discipline being highest when explicit and implicit aggression were very incongruent, but being quite low when they were congruent. The results show that examining nonlinear effects with respect to explicit and implicit aggression can reveal unexpected relationships when predicting peer-reported criteria or organizational personnel data. Propositions for future research on the relationship of personality to workplace outcomes are presented deriving from the trait activation model, and implications for workplace interventions are discussed.     

Deviant Workplace Behavior as Emotional Action: Discriminant and Interactive Roles for Work-Related Emotional Intelligence

ABSTRACT

Employees are thought to engage in deviant workplace behaviors (e.g., sabotage, theft) when they are stressed, frustrated, or angry. Given the emotional nature of these actions, individual differences in work-related emotional intelligence (W-EI) should, potentially, be consequential. Three studies (ns = 91, 198, & 147) examined this possibility by assessing variations in emotion perception and management skills with an ability measure specifically designed for the workplace context. Employees who received higher W-EI scores were less prone to both interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance and these relationships displayed discriminant validity as well as meaningful interactive effects with organizational stressors. The investigation extends our understanding of workplace deviance in a way that highlights an important role for work-related variations in emotional intelligence.     

More than Just a Flock? The Independent and Interdependent Nature of Peer Self-Control on Deviance

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study is to test whether a peer’s self-control is related to deviance and whether it conditions the extent to which an actor’s self-control is related to deviance. To examine these research questions, the study begins by highlighting a series of theoretical inconsistencies in expected direction of peer effects in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory. Using dyadic data, crime is regressed onto measures of attitudinal and behavioral self-control from the actor and the friend. Regardless of how self-control is measured, findings demonstrate that the peer’s self-control relates to deviance. Additionally, peer self-control independently and interdependently relates to deviant involvement. Peer self-control is meaningful for deviance in multiple ways among people in friendships, thereby suggesting that the importance of peer self-control on offending behaviors is greater than just being part of a flock.     

Selective Exposure and News Media Brands: Implicit and Explicit Attitudes as Predictors of News Choice

ABSTRACT

Media consumers often lack the motivation, time, or cognitive capacity to select content in a deliberate way; instead, they opt for mental shortcuts. Brands are important in this regard because they simplify decision making. In the present study we investigated whether attitudes toward news media brands predict news choice. It is important that we conceptualized attitudes on two different levels: Although explicit attitudes are defined as overtly expressed, more or less deliberate evaluations, implicit attitudes are defined as automatically activated, gut-level evaluations. The supplementary use of implicit attitudes is consistent with current theorizing highlighting that deeply held and sometimes even unconscious evaluations influence media choice. Using a web-based study, we found that implicit and explicit attitudes toward television brands predicted choice. Each attitude construct predicted variance beyond that predicted by the other. We discuss implications by emphasizing the role of automatic, gut-level decision making in current high-choice media environments.     

The over‐Negativized conceptualization of deviance: A programmatic exploration

It is the contention of this paper that past and current sociological conceptions of deviance are unduly limited in that they consider only negative conceptualizations of general deviance. The argument is advanced that sociologists are overdue to acknowledge the empirical existence of positive deviance and to incorporate the positive deviance into a broader, more general study of deviance. Since acknowledging positive deviance would highlight the inadequacy of conceptualizations limited to negative deviance only, guidelines for the beginnings of the solution to this problem are suggested. Suggestions are presented for reworking and reevaluating some of the basic definitional statements of (negative) deviance and some of the elemental aspects of the existing deviance paradigms in order to develop a more general field of study.