The Psychology of Respect: A Case Study of How Behavioral Norms Regulate Human Action
Abstract For any organization or society to thrive, it must possess a behavioral code that tempers self interest, promoting instead coordinated, cooperative, and self sacrificing action among its members. In this chapter, we examine respect as a case study of such behavioral codes or norms. By respect, we mean that people are impelled to treat each other as individuals of goodwill and competence, even if they do not privately believe it. This norm explains why people, including strangers, trust each other much more than the underlying rational economic analysis would suggest. It also explains a host of other interpersonal behaviors, such as helping and avoiding confrontation. The anatomy of respect is complex. It works often against a person's underlying preferences rather than for them, constitutes what people think they should do rather than what they want to do, is driven by anxiety, focuses on regulating actions rather than their outcomes, comprises avoidance motivation rather than approach motivation, and is more moral (ie, private and personal) than social (ie, honored only because it is actively enforced by others) in nature. Despite the range and power of its influence, the norm of respect itself receives too little respect, in that people commonly underestimate its impact on human behavior.