Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effects of Model Status and Collective Validation on the Enactment and Cultural Transmission of Deviance

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation research will construct an experiment to test how the encouragement of cheating has an effect on the frequency of subjects' cheating and their tendency to encourage others to cheat. Two aspects of the situation are varied: the person encouraging the cheating has high, low, or undefined status; and the encouragement to cheat is endorsed or not by the subjects' workgroup. The experimental test is derived from well established theories and research on deviance that emphasize the importance of peers on deviant behavior. The results should specify more precisely how this influence operates.