University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Third parties’ reactions to everyday vigilantism: A dual-process perspective

Chen, Fan Xuan

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125777

Description

Title
Third parties’ reactions to everyday vigilantism: A dual-process perspective
Author(s)
Chen, Fan Xuan
Issue Date
2024-07-03
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
  • Restubog, Simon
  • Liu, Yihao
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Restubog, Simon
Committee Member(s)
  • Newman, Daniel
  • Cohen, Dov
  • Aquino, Karl
Department of Study
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • vigilantism
  • morality
  • social cognition
  • prosocial behavior
  • moral behavior
Abstract
Vigilantism has a long-standing presence in human society but has only recently received attention from social scientists. Based on recent theories on vigilantism and dual-process theories in social psychology, in this dissertation, I provide one of the first investigations into the socio-cognitive and behavioral implications elicited by perceiving vigilantism in social surroundings. I adopt a full-cycle approach, beginning with an examination of my proposed model in an online setting using community samples (Preliminary Study 1). This is followed by experimental replications of the proposed effects in Studies 2a and 2b. Finally, I replicate the proposed model in a field-based organizational setting in Study 3, where I also explore additional moderators. Overall, I found some evidence supporting my proposed model, but some relationships were not supported, preventing me from providing unequivocal conclusions. Across studies, I observed that the perception of vigilantism tends to increase the perception of threat to oneself as well as in the environment, and these perceptions appear to predict both prosocial and antisocial behaviors, though the relationships were not consistently supported in all studies. Potential reasons for the inconsistent and lack of support, along with limitations and future research directions, are discussed.
Graduation Semester
2024-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125777
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2024 Fan Xuan Chen

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