Abstract

The present study is concerned with identifying the information variables affecting punishment judgment. Punishment judgment, in the present study, was conceived as consisting of judgment of guiltiness and judgment of penalty. Three studies dealt with information variables affecting penalty judgment and the manner in which these information variables interact with each other in determining the judgment. An equation for penalty judgment was derived from the information integration theory of impression formation(Anderson, 1974) and equity theory(Adams, 1965): Penalty=(defendant's responsibility x severity of victim's outcome)+(recidivism risk). Study 1 and Study 2 verified the notion that defendant's responsibility and severity of outcome combine multiplicatively rather than additively in predicting penalty judgment. Study 3 showed that culpability(responsibility x outcome severity) and recidivism risk combine additively as the above model predicts. Implications and limitations of the present studies were discussed.