Effect of a Harm-doer's Attractiveness and the Victim's History of Prior Victimization on Punishment of the Harm-doer

Abstract

After observing a harm-doer exploit a victim, subjects had the opportunity to punish the harm-doer. The general attractiveness of the harm-doer and the victim's history of prior victimization were varied independently to explore the hypothesis that the influence of prior victimization is moderated by the general attractiveness of the harm-doer. The expected interaction was found such that the attractive harm-doer was punished less when the victim had been previously victimized, but the unattractive harm-doer was punished less when there was no history of victimization.