Whereas northerners may have behavioral rituals in which they give and receive small doses of hostility to regulate conflict, southerners seem not to. In two laboratory experiments, southerners were less clear than northerners in both sending and receiving signs of hostility. In Study 1, southerners initially showed little reaction to an annoting confederate only to end with bursts of anger far more sudden and more severe than northerners ever showed. In Study 2, as subjects watched objectively dangerous situations unfold, southerners were less sensitive to cues of hostility than were northerners. And in Study 3, consistent with southern politeness norms inhibiting effective conflict resolution, it was shown that friendly, helpful cities had different patterns of argument-related violence in the North and in the South.
Results suggest a cycle in which norms for politeness and for violence can reinforce each other.
Role-identity is predicted from perceived expectations, modeling, personal norms, and past behavior. Past behavior is consistently influenced by perceived expectations and modelng. Past blood donation is affected more strongly by modeling from parents than is volunteering. Feelings of moral obligation have a stronger effect on role-identity as a blood donor than as a donor of time or money. These studies addressed expectancies concerned the emotion-eliciting conditions experienced by individuals of differing status, the emotions experienced and displayed by these individuals, and the norms dictating their display of emotions.