Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Honor; Jurors; Judgments; Mental illness;

Abstract

Culture of honor is a system of cultural beliefs in which one’s honor is seen to be of the utmost importance (Nisbett & Cohen, 1996). Due to the importance of personal honor, defending one's honor could be seen as an adequate defense for crimes committed in the name of personal honor. This study examined the influence that honor culture ideology has on juror decision making. A total of 190 participants read a brief trial summary of either a crime in which the participants’ honor was threatened, or a crime that did not involve a threat to the defendant’s honor. The defendant’s mental illness status was also manipulated to examine how the mental health stigma associated with honor culture could affect juror decision making. Participants indicated their verdict and responded to other items related to the harshness of the recommended sentence. Participants in both levels of honor ideology provided more guilty verdicts for the honor-related crime. High levels of honor ideology were associated with shorter sentence recommendations for honor-related crimes. Additionally, high levels of honor ideology did not affect the likelihood of a guilty verdict for a defendant with mental illness; however, defendants with a mental illness were given a longer sentence recommendation. Unexpectedly, participants with low levels of honor ideology were influenced by the manipulation of the crime type and defendant’s mental illness status; participants with low honor ideology recommended a longer sentence for the honor-related crime, and a shorter sentence when the defendant had a mental illness. This research helps address the gap in the research regarding how honor culture impacts perceptions of others, and how this ideology can affect those in the court system.

Year of Submission

2025

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Jiuqing Cheng, Chair

Date Original

2025

Object Description

1 PDF file (ix, 124 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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