The Behavioral Code: The Hidden Ways the Law Makes Us Better . or Worse

by Benjamin van Rooij

The only problem is that virtually all of these studies are correlational. And as the saying goes, correlation does not equate to causation.12 Fortunately, some experimental studies offer causal evidence. Take, for instance, the work of ed Maguire, a criminologist at Arizona State University, and his colleagues, who recorded videos of a simulated traffic stop. They then randomly assigned 266 people to watch one of three versions of the video in which the only variation was how the officer communicated with the driver: positively (procedurally just), negatively (procedurally unjust), or neutrally (neither just nor unjust). Then they asked people how much they would be willing to cooperate with the officer, how much they feel obligated to obey the officer, and how much they trust the officer. Maguire and his colleagues found clear evidence that the way a police officer treats people during an encounter influences all three outcomes: the extent to which people are willing to cooperate with the officer, feel obligated to obey the officer, and report trusting the officer. When people watched the procedurally just encounter, they were more likely to trust the officer and to both cooperate and obey. That finding suggests that even vicarious experiences, such as watching someone else have a just and fair traffic stop interaction with an officer, impact us.