Research Interests

Cultural Influences on Violence

Much of my research has explored cultural influences on male violence. A theme of this research has been the relationship of a cultural emphasis on honor to ideologies that promote and perpetuate aggression and violence. My colleagues and I have done a number of studies exploring how members of cultures of honor (for example, the U.S. South, Brazil, Latin America) have meaning systems and show patterns of behaviors that promote and perpetuate aggression and violence.

Culture, Honor, and Domestic Violence. Much of my recent focus has been on male violence against women. I am interested in exploring cultural influences on domestic violence, in honor cultures and beyond. In one series of studies, Dov Cohen and I showed that a college sample of Brazilians was more likely (relative to a sample from the U.S.) to believe a man lost honor if his wife was unfaithful, and he could regain some of this honor through the use of violence. In a follow-up study, college students from honor cultures (U.S. Latino/as and Southern Anglos) were more likely (compared to Northern Anglos) to send signals of acceptance of witnessed violence and to have a more favorable impression of a woman who remained in an abusive relationship. In a series of archival analyses of real-world domestic violence, several themes associated with cultures of honor (emphasis on female purity, gender inequality, and familial collectivism) correlated with the cultural prevalence of domestic violence.

Cultural Perpetuation. One question we have explored is why and how cultural patterns of violence are perpetuated and enforced. This is especially puzzling given that norms for violence that may have been adaptive in the past (for example, in frontier cultures lacking adequate law enforcement) often persist beyond the point of being adaptive. One theory we have proposed is that norms for violence in cultures of honor and elsewhere might be reinforced through a type of pluralistic ignorance, where a cultural norm that was once functional continues to be reinforced because members of the culture mistakenly believe others endorse the norm. In essence, there may be widespread collective misperceptions about the attractiveness or acceptability of violence that lead to a mismatch between people's private attitudes and their public behavior. I am currently exploring the extent of such possible misperceptions, and possible interactions with gender. For example, do men mistakenly believe that women expect aggression from them or that females are attracted to aggressive men?

Meanings of Manhood. In one area of current research, I am looking at cultural definitions of manhood and possible connections with violence. We are predicting that manhood carries a tenuous elusive quality that distinguishes it from womanhood. This feeling of the tenuous nature of manhood might lead males to feel that real manhood is achieved only through struggles, and such beliefs might lead to patterns of conflict and violence. One element of this definition of manhood that interests me is how this influences relationships with women. One possibility is that manhood is seen as an implicit social contract, such that real manhood is dependent upon one's female partner being faithful. If this is the case, men may resort to violent tactics of control and vigilance in order to ensure partner fidelity, and therefore one's manhood.

References:

Southern culture and male violence:

Cohen, D., Vandello, J. A., & Rantilla, A. K. (1998). The sacred and the social: Honor and violence in cultural context. In P. Gilbert & B. Andrews (Eds.) Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture (pp. 261-282). Cambridge: Oxford University Press.

Cohen, D., & Vandello, J. A. (1998). Meanings of violence. Journal of Legal Studies, 27, 501-518.

Cohen, D., Vandello, J. A., Puente, S., & Rantilla, A. K. (1999). "When you call me that, smile!" How norms for politeness, interaction styles, and aggression work together in southern culture. Social Psychology Quarterly, 62, 257-275.

Cohen, D., & Vandello, J. A. (2001). Honor and "faking" honorability. In R. Nesse (Ed.) Evolution and the capacity for commitment (pp. 163-185). New York: Russell Sage.

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D. (2004). When believing is seeing: Sustaining norms of violence in cultures of honor. In M. Schaller & C. Crandall (Eds.) The psychological foundations of culture. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Cohen, D., & Vandello, J. A. (2004). The paradox of politeness. In M. Anderson (Ed.) Cultural shaping of violence. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D., & Ransom, S. (2008). U.S. Southern and Northern differences in perceptions of norms about aggression: Mechanisms for the perpetuation of a culture of honor. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 162-177.

Honor and domestic violence against women:

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D. (2003). Male honor and female fidelity: Implicit cultural scripts
that perpetuate domestic violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 997-1010.

Vandello J. A., & Cohen, D. (2008). Gender, culture, and intimate partner violence against women. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 1-16.

Vandello, J. A. (2007). Sex ratios and homicide across the U.S. International Journal of Psychology Research, 1, 59-80.

Vandello, J. A., Cohen, D., Granson, R., & Franiuk, R. (under review). Stand by your man: Indirect cultural prescriptions for honorable violence and feminine loyalty.

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D. (under revision). Cultural themes associated with domestic violence against women: A cross-cultural analysis.

Manhood and aggression

Vandello, J. A., Bosson, J. K., Cohen, D., & Burnaford, R., & Wasti, A. (under review). Precarious manhood and aggression.

Vandello, J. A., & Ransom, S. (under review). Underestimating the “nice guy”: Males’ miscalibrations about aggression and apology.

Vandello, J. A., Goldschmied, N., & Richards, D. A. R. (2007). The appeal of the underdog. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1603-1616.

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