Science: Fear of Punishment May Actually Deter Bad Behavior

Who'd've guessed?

The fear of being punished makes people less likely to violate social norms, according to a study by Swiss and German researchers.

Using scanning technology, the scientists were able to show which parts of the brain react to the threat of punishment, highlighting that lesions in these regions might lead to antisocial behaviour.

The study, published on Wednesday in the brain research journal Neuron, aimed to understand the effects of potential punishment on the decision-making process.
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"Most people are willing to comply with [social] norms in the absence of punishment," he told swissinfo. "But a significant minority will only do so if threatened."

Shockingly enough, those who engage in bad behavior have stronger impulses towards egotism/selfishness than empathy and concern for others:

"People who primarily comply with a norm because of the threat of punishment probably have to suppress their egoistic impulses more strongly, which then activates this region of the frontal lobe more strongly," said Fehr.

"This result extends previous results we found showing that egoistic decisions are more likely to be made if this area of the brain is suppressed in its activity."

For the researchers, the implications of their study go beyond highlighting that some people only respond to threats. In many young people, the regions of the brain involved are not fully developed, perhaps explaining why potential punishment does not prevent anti-social behaviour.

There is some real news here, though: They find we shouldn't punish the young, who tend to be more selfish than the mature, and probably shouldn't punish psychopaths either, who seem to have all of their empathy centers switched off.

posted by Ace at 04:54 PM

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