First Impressions are More Important than Early Intervention Qualifying Broken Windows Theory in the Lab

Martin Beckenkamp, Christoph Engel, Andreas Glöckner, Bernd Irlenbusch, Heike Hennig-Schmidt, Sebastian Kube, Michael Kurschilgen, Alexander Morell, Andreas Nicklisch, Hans-Theo Normann and Emanuel Towfigh

No 2009_21, Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods from Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Abstract: Broken Windows: the metaphor has changed New York and Los Angeles. Yet it is far from undisputed whether the broken windows policy was causal for reducing crime. In a series of lab experiments we put two components of the theory to the test. We show that first impressions and early punishment of antisocial behaviour are independently and jointly causal for cooperativeness. The effect of good first impressions and of early vigilance cannot be explained with, but adds to, participants’ initial level of benevolence. Mere impression management is not strong enough to maintain cooperation. Cooperation stabilizes if good first impressions are combined with some risk of sanctions. Yet if we control for first impressions, early vigilance only has a small effect. The effect vanishes over time.

Date: 2009-07, Revised 2013-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-pbe
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Journal Article: First impressions are more important than early intervention: Qualifying broken windows theory in the lab (2014)
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