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Figure 14.10Results From Cohen, Nisbett, Bosdle, and Schwarz, 1996
Students from southern U.S. states expressed more anger and had greater levels of testosterone after being insulted
than did students from northern states.
Source: Adapted from Cohen, D., Nisbett, R. E., Bosdle, B., & Schwarz, N. (1996). Insult, aggression, and the
southern culture of honor: An “experimental ethnography.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 945–
960.
In another test of the impact of culture of honor, Cohen and Nisbett (1997) [34] sent letters to employers across
the United States from a fictitious job applicant who admitted having been convicted of a felony. To half the
employers, the applicant reported that he had impulsively killed a man who had been having an affair with his
fiancée and then taunted him about it in a crowded bar. To the other half, the applicant reported that he had
stolen a car because he needed the money to pay off debts. Employers from the South and the West, places in
which the culture of honor is strong, were more likely than employers in the North and East to respond in an
understanding and cooperative way to the letter from the convicted killer, but there were no cultural differences
for the letter from the auto thief.
One possible explanation for regional differences in the culture of honor involves the kind of activities typically
engaged in by men in the different regions. While people in the northern parts of the United States were usually
farmers who grew crops, people from southern climates were more likely to raise livestock. Unlike the crops
grown by the northerners, the herds were mobile and vulnerable to theft, and it was difficult for law
enforcement officials to protect them. To be successful in an environment where theft was common, a man had
to build a reputation for strength and toughness, and this was accomplished by a willingness to use swift, and
sometimes violent, punishment against thieves.