Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Prior research suggests that negligent harms are punished because of the resulting negative outcomes. Under thisaccount, negligent but completely harmless acts should not be punished. An alternative possibility is that negligence is punishedas a way of modifying future thought and behavior. Across three studies we find support for this second proposal. Study 1demonstrates that punishment is assigned to negligent agents, irrespective of whether or not a harm actually occurs. Study 2demonstrates that non-negligent agents who cause harm are punished less than negligent agents who do not cause harm. Study3 shows that the punishment of harmful negligent actions is only judged to be successful when it results in the agent ceasing toact negligently, and not when it results in the harm ceasing to occur. Together, these results suggest that a primary function ofpunishment in cases of negligence is modify future thought.