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Culture of Honor

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 69 Accesses

Synonyms

Aggression; Collectivism; Dominance; Face; Masculinity; Pride; Reputation; Respect; Violence

Definition

Honor commonly refers to how others see an individual (usually a man) in terms of his respect, pride, dominance, and/or masculinity. Cultures of honor are those in which individuals strive to maintain their honor.

Introduction

The presence of a culture of honor is commonly used to explain differences in aggressive behavior of men from different regions, countries, or societies. The most prominent example of these differences comes from the pioneering research program by Richard Nisbett and Dov Cohen (1996). They compared male aggressive behavior in different US regions and consistently found that when the honor of men from the South was challenged they were more aggressive than were men from other regions (primarily the North). Similar results have been found in multiple other countries using many different measures of emotion, cognition, and behavior (for a brief review...

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References

  • Cohen, D., Nisbett, R. E., Bowdle, B. F., & Schwarz, N. (1996). Insult, aggression, and the southern culture of honor: An “experimental ethnography”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(5), 945–960.

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  • Mosquera, P. M. R. (2013). In the name of honor: On virtue, reputation and violence. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(3), 271–278.

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  • Nisbett, R. E., & Cohen, D. (1996). Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the South. Boulder: Westview Press.

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  • Shackelford, T. K. (2005). An evolutionary psychological perspective on cultures of honor. Evolutionary Psychology, 3(1), 381–391.

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  • Thornhill, R., & Fincher, C. L. (2011). Parasite stress promotes homicide and child maltreatment. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 366(1583), 3466–3477.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    Victor N. Keller

Authors
  1. Victor N. Keller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victor N. Keller .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Melissa McDonald

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Keller, V.N. (2017). Culture of Honor. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_870-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_870-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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