scholarly journals Explaining cheating in schools with Situational Action Theory: Within-estimations using a German school panel

2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110552
Author(s):  
André Ernst ◽  
Maria Gerth
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
German School ◽  
Rule Breaking ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Using Data

Wikström's Situational Action Theory (SAT) explains rule-breaking by reference to the cognitive perception-choice process, which indicates how a person's propensity to break rules interacts with the setting's criminogeneity. SAT's situational model claims that the interaction between personal morality and the moral norms of the setting, the so-called moral filter, is critical in the explanation of rule-breaking, and that the influence of self-control is subordinate to this process. Self-control becomes relevant when individuals whose personal morality discourages rule-breaking are exposed to settings in which the moral norms encourage rule-breaking, that is, if the moral filter is conflicted. Whereas most previous studies have equated the moral filter with personal morality, we consider the moral norms of the setting as well. This allows for a more rigorous test of the moral filter, and thus the conditionality of self-control. Here, we investigate student cheating, using data from two waves of a large-scale German school panel study, and we conceptualise the setting's moral norms by reference to the descriptive norm: other students’ cheating behaviour. This ensures the spatio-linkage between the setting's criminogeneity and rule-breaking, which is necessary for investigating SAT. Additionally, our estimation strategy – person and school fixed-effect models – controls for alternative explanations by the selection of people into settings with different levels of criminogeneity. Moreover, it controls for heterogeneity across persons and schools. The findings are in line with SAT's predictions. In cases of a correspondence between personal morality and the moral norms of a setting, students with rule-abiding morality are least likely to cheat, whereas students with a rule-breaking morality are the most likely to cheat. Also, in line with SAT, self-control only matters for students with rule-abiding morality when they are exposed to moral norms that encourage rule-breaking.

Revisiting the role of self-control in Situational Action Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Kroneberg ◽  
Sonja Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Comprehensive Account ◽  
Theory Of Crime ◽  
Rule Breaking ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Crime And Delinquency ◽  
Crime Causation

Wikström’s Situational Action Theory of Crime Causation (SAT) aims at providing a comprehensive account of the action-generating mechanisms that underlie rule-breaking. Paying tribute to the longstanding criminological interest in self-control, SAT also entails a new view of this concept and its role in crime causation. SAT claims that morality is the more fundamental determinant of rule-breaking and that self-control should become relevant only when actors enter a process of deliberation on whether or not to break a rule. Our contribution is twofold: theoretically, we discuss the role of self-control in SAT and derive previously untested implications; empirically, we evaluate these implications based on data from a large German panel study and thereby advance our understanding of when and how self-control matters for crime and delinquency.

The nature and role of morality in situational action theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 147737082097709
Author(s):  
Jennifer Barton-Crosby
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Moral Rule ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
Rule Breaking ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Perception Of Action

For situational action theory (SAT), morality is key to the definition of crime and the explanation for why and how acts of crime happen: acts of crime are acts of moral rule-breaking and personal morality guides individuals’ perception of moral rule-breaking as an option before controls become relevant. However, the nature and role of morality in SAT can be misread. Within this article I respond to misinterpretations of the theory by elaborating and adding further context to the concept of morality in SAT. I contend that the root of misunderstanding is grounded in alternative assumptions regarding human nature: SAT assumes a fundamentally rule-guided human nature, whereas the prevailing view within criminology is that people are primarily self-interested. In this article I delineate SAT’s assumption of a rule-guided human nature and set out how this assumption informs the definition of crime and personal morality in the theory. I further specify the nature and role of morality in the perception of action alternatives, and in so doing distinguish SAT from theories that view constraint as the measure of morality. Finally, I develop and clarify SAT’s position on the relationship between morality and the law.

Situational Action Theory and School Bullying: Rethinking the Moral Filter

2020 ◽  
pp. 001112872097431
Author(s):  
Weidi Liu ◽  
Geping Qiu ◽  
Sheldon Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
School Bullying ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Moral Exclusion ◽  
Conditional Effects ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Different Levels

Utilizing a sample from Chinese schools, we test the key ingredients of Situational Action Theory within the context of school bullying in a non-Western culture. The results show that morality has a robust effect on bullying behaviors, whereas control mechanisms (i.e., self-control and deterrence) have little restraining effect when personal morality is low. Our findings, together with prior mixed findings regarding conditional effects of control mechanisms, suggest that the moral filter may work differently for behaviors associated with different levels of stigmatization. We speculate that, for less stigmatized behaviors, “habitualization” easily materialize but “moral exclusion” does not, and thus controls exert stronger impact when morality is higher. Implications for the theory and directions for future research are discussed.

Conditional relevance of controls: A simultaneous test of the influences of self-control and deterrence on criminal behaviour in the context of Situational Action Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Schepers ◽  
Jost Reinecke
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Multiple Group ◽  
Simultaneous Test ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
German Cities ◽  
Conditional Relevance

Situational Action Theory includes a series of propositions on the interaction between the moral filter and internal and external controls. These reflections are condensed into the principle of the conditional relevance of controls and the principle of moral correspondence. In this study, the interplay of controls and moral forces is tested within the framework of structural equation modelling. Survey data from two cohorts of students in the German cities of Dortmund (North-Rhine Westphalia) and Nuremberg (Bavaria) serve as the empirical base. By using multiple group comparisons, the influences of self-control and deterrence on self-reported delinquency are examined simultaneously for four different subgroups of respondents formed on the basis of their levels of crime propensity and criminogenic exposure. The analyses provide support for a conditional relevance of controls, but produce only mixed evidence for the principle of moral correspondence. Controls are more important when the moral filter is weak, but fail to lose their explanatory power among adolescents characterized by both high propensity and strong exposure. Our findings furthermore suggest that self-control appears to matter particularly when the moral context encourages crime and deterrence seems to be influential especially when personal morality encourages crime.

Motivations, Propensities, and Their Interplays on Online Bullying Perpetration: A Partial Test of Situational Action Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (12) ◽  
pp. 1787-1808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyojong Song ◽  
Seong-Sik Lee
Keyword(s):  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Online Bullying ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Bullying Perpetration ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Online Setting ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Using Data

Using data gathered from 757 college students in South Korea, the current study examines applicability of situational action theory (SAT) to online bullying perpetration (OBP). Specifically, the current study focuses on testing interplays between motivations in the criminogenic online setting (temptation and provocation) and individual propensities (morality and self-control) as well as interplay between two individual propensities on OBP. Results show that morality significantly buffers the effects of provocation on OBP as expected, while morality unexpectedly enhances effects of temptation on OBP. Moreover, the current study found no significant interaction between two propensities, morality and self-control. Thus, future studies should focus on examining how roles of morality vary depending on different types of offenses and contexts.

How Robust Is the Moderating Effect of Extremist Beliefs on the Relationship Between Self-Control and Violent Extremism?

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 1000-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieven J. R. Pauwels ◽  
Robert Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Adolescent Offending ◽  
The Relationship

The present research note studies the interaction between the ability to exercise self-control and extremist moral beliefs with regard to the explanation of violent extremism. Although some evidence exists for the interaction between moral beliefs and self-control in the explanation of adolescent offending, no previous study has studied this interaction effect in a survey of young adults and with regard to politically or religiously motivated violence. This study therefore extends the existing literature by testing a key proposition of Situational Action Theory. We use a large-scale web survey of young adults in Belgium. The results support the hypothesis that the effect of the ability to exercise self-control is conditional upon one’s extremist beliefs. The results are stable across extremism-specific measures of extremist beliefs.

scholarly journals Differential Self-control Effects: Moral Filtering and the Subsidiary Relevance of Self-control

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Hirtenlehner ◽  
Heinz Leitgöb
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Situational Characteristics ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Self Report Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Low Self Control

AbstractCriminological research has identified low self-control as major cause of criminal activity. However, astonishingly little is known about the individual and situational characteristics that affect the functioning of self-control in relation to crime. Recent theorizing, especially in the context of Situational Action Theory, suggests that the interplay of personal and contextual morality creates a morally preselected choice set whose composition determines the relevance of self-control. Guided by the ideas of differential self-control effects and a moral filtering of action alternatives, the present inquiry investigates whether the role of self-control in crime causation depends on the power of moral factors to exclude crime from the set of the considered behavioral options. We argue that the significance of an individual’s capacity for self-control increases with a growing weakness of the moral filter, reaching its maximum when both personal and setting morality encourage criminal activity. Analyses of self-report data on adolescent vandalism delinquency provide support for differential self-control effects. The general picture is that self-control ability matters most when the strength of the moral filter hits a low, which is when both an individual’s own moral rules and the moral norms of the setting facilitate offending. Further evidence suggests that crime contemplation is highest when individual morality and setting morality jointly encourage vandalism. There is also indication that trait self-control has a greater effect on vandalism delinquency at higher levels of crime contemplation. All these results accord with the notion of a subsidiary relevance of control.

scholarly journals Can Situational Action Theory Explain the Gender Gap in Adolescent Shoplifting? Results From Austria

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Hirtenlehner ◽  
Kyle Treiber
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Situational Action Theory

Although shoplifting is one of the crimes with the smallest gender gap among all offense types, most studies still conclude that males steal from shops more frequently than females. The roots of the gendered distribution of shoplifting have not yet been satisfactorily explained. This work investigates whether situational action theory (SAT) can account for males’ greater involvement in shoplifting compared to females and if the propensity–exposure interaction that is at the heart of the theory applies to both genders. Results from a large-scale student survey conducted in Austria suggest that SAT generalizes to both genders and that it is well suited to explain why males are more likely to shoplift than females.

Morality, delinquent peer association, and criminogenic exposure: (How) does change predict change?

2020 ◽  
pp. 147737081989621
Author(s):  
Alberto P Chrysoulakis
Keyword(s):  
Linear Growth ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Simultaneous Increase ◽  
Growth Modelling ◽  
Development Study ◽  
Situational Action Theory ◽  
Crime And Delinquency ◽  
Delinquent Peer ◽  
Peer Association ◽  
Using Data

According to the Situational Action Theory, stronger morality inhibits the perception of alternatives to law-breaking action, thus lessening the probability of crime and delinquency. Research indicates that morality might be affected by delinquent peer association and in turn affect criminogenic exposure. This article studies how morality develops during late adolescence using data from the longitudinal project Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Development Study. Using linear growth modelling, the study finds that a decrease in morality is associated with a simultaneous increase in delinquency peer association. No change in criminogenic exposure was detected. The results are discussed alongside theoretical and methodological implications.

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