The Causal Impact of Exposure to Deviant Peers Journal Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Objectives:This study addresses the enduring question about whether exposure to deviant peers causes individuals to engage in deviance. Ample literature comments on this point, but methodological limitations prevent strong conclusions about causality.Method:The authors conducted a laboratory-based experiment under the guise of a memory/recall study for which participants could earn up to $20. All 91 participants had the opportunity to cheat on a computer-based word recall task by clicking on up to four links that provided access to the words in order to illegitimately earn more money for their performance. In the treatment condition ( n = 47), subjects were exposed to a confederate who indicated an intention to cheat, justified this behavior, and cheated on the task.Results:Whereas none of the participants in the control condition cheated on this task, 38 percent of the participants in the treatment condition did. This effect endures when controlling for various attributes of participants in regression models. Supplemental analyses underscore the notion that clicking on the links reflected cheating rather than curiosity.Conclusions:This experiment provides evidence that exposure to a deviant peer can cause individuals to engage in deviance. Future experimental work should focus on determining the precise mechanism/mechanisms responsible.

publication date

  • November 1, 2013

has restriction

  • closed

Date in CU Experts

  • September 12, 2019 10:51 AM

Full Author List

  • Paternoster R; McGloin JM; Nguyen H; Thomas KJ

author count

  • 4

Other Profiles

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0022-4278

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1552-731X

Additional Document Info

start page

  • 476

end page

  • 503

volume

  • 50

issue

  • 4