Regional culture labels mask within-region diversity in moral disengagement

Evidence

Many culturally oriented analyses use regions as proxies for the inhabitants’ psychological orientation (Bandura, 2002). For example, American southerners are said to be especially prone to justifying aggression because their “code of honor” obliges them to challenge an offender (Cohen & Nisbett, 1994). However, territorial ascriptions can mask notable diversity in moral disengagement within regional groupings. This is borne out by regional differences obtained in the same study. Residents in the more liberally oriented region of Austin, Texas, were much less likely than their counterparts residing in more conservative southern regions to cite a moral justification for the death penalty. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1979

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the Cohen & Nisbett ‘culture of honor’ framing — connects to debates about ecological/regional determinism in social psychology.