[FROM: Dennis Delprato (941214)]
I just ran across "Is Punishment Effective? Coercive
Strategies in Social Exchange" (L. D. Molm,
Social Psychology Quarterly, 1994, v. 57, pp. 75-
94).
One of "those" social psychology experiments with
deception and a 3 X 2 X 2 factorial design was used.
Participants (using the term gratuitously) interacted
with a computer. The research was supported by the
National Science Foundation.
The author seems to conclude that the results support
the contention that punishment and coercion are "effective"
when used strongly and frequently, e.g., "These results
refute the classical exchange theorists' arguments that
punishment is ineffective and leads to retaliation...."
And "more frequent punishment for nonexchange increased the
partner's reward exchange without increasing retaliation
or negative affect."
Perhaps someone with interests in social exchange
will be interested in examining this experiment.
The author cites numerous authors who today are
concluding that punishment is "effective."