TY - JOUR
T1 - Institutional inversion and the connection between collective attitudes and behavior
AU - Cohen, Dov
AU - Shin, Faith
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/4
Y1 - 2020/4
N2 - Most psychologists assume a harmonious correspondence between attitudes, behavior, and cultural institutions. However, institutions often act as intermediating forces between collective attitudes and behavior, and institutions’ value-expressive function may be at-odds with the actual behavioral outcomes they produce. We illustrate this with the paradox-of-debt: Protestant cultures have traditionally been relatively less sympathetic to debtors than Catholic cultures have been. Consequently, Protestant cultures set up more pro-creditor institutions. With lending being safer and more profitable in Protestant cultures, creditors increased the amount they were willing to lend. With more credit available, people now borrow more in Protestant (versus Catholic) cultures. Intermediating institutions may thus invert the usual attitude–behavior relationship, facilitating rather than inhibiting traditionally stigmatized behavior.
AB - Most psychologists assume a harmonious correspondence between attitudes, behavior, and cultural institutions. However, institutions often act as intermediating forces between collective attitudes and behavior, and institutions’ value-expressive function may be at-odds with the actual behavioral outcomes they produce. We illustrate this with the paradox-of-debt: Protestant cultures have traditionally been relatively less sympathetic to debtors than Catholic cultures have been. Consequently, Protestant cultures set up more pro-creditor institutions. With lending being safer and more profitable in Protestant cultures, creditors increased the amount they were willing to lend. With more credit available, people now borrow more in Protestant (versus Catholic) cultures. Intermediating institutions may thus invert the usual attitude–behavior relationship, facilitating rather than inhibiting traditionally stigmatized behavior.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.006
DO - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.006
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31499474
AN - SCOPUS:85071888614
SN - 2352-250X
VL - 32
SP - 133
EP - 137
JO - Current Opinion in Psychology
JF - Current Opinion in Psychology
ER -