The purpose of the study is to gain insight into the processes by which people make social judgments about morality. In particular, we want to see how perpetrator gain and victim loss relate to previously evaluated moral punishment variables (such as crime seriousness) and theories (i.e., deterrence theory, retribution theory, welfare tradeoff ratios, and fitness differentials). The main contribution of this research will be to evaluate the influence of perpetrator gain on punishment preferences and, potentially, greater understanding of which theory best explains layperson preferences for punishing wrongdoers.
