First impressions are more important than early intervention: Qualifying broken windows theory in the lab

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.

The Empire is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Long‐Run Persistence of Trust and Corruption in the Bureaucracy

“…It goes back to an experiment showing that an abandoned open car was vandalised quickly in the Bronx but not in Palo Alto, where it was also vandalised as soon as it had a broken window. The effectiveness of broken windows policy, which influenced anti‐crime policies in such cities as New York City and Los Angeles, has been validated in Corman and Mocan () and laboratory experiments confirm that first impressions causally affect social behaviour (Engel et al ., ).…”

Normative Perception of Power Abuse

“…The broken windows theory, which found certain experimental support (e.g., Funk and Kugler, 2003;Corman and Mocan, 2005;Engel et al, 2014), states that when people see the results of others not following norms (broken windows that stay unfixed), they also stop following norms in other domains, thus hurting the community. This might sound similar to our results; however, there is a conceptual difference.…”

Broken Windows Theory: Time to Reevaluate and Reform a Failing Ideology with the Help of Communities

“…Social control is implied through the use of police enforcing policy and public order. Broken windows theory claims that crime is directly linked to social order (Engel et al, 2014). Social control is weakened when fear is associated with disorder because people avoid fear and the individual or object that causes such fear.…”

“…High crime neighbourhoods are the result of disorderly conditions and neglect by community members and lack of action from police. If society does not care about the social and physical disorder, neighbourhoods are on a slippery slope to more severe forms of disorder and crime (Engel et al, 2014). Trust and control are interlinked in the relationship between concentrated disadvantage and crime (Gau et al, 2014).…”