Verbal Operants of Corruption: A Study of Avoidance in Corruption Behavior

Abstract

Corruption is illegal and universally shameful. Persons who engage in corrupt practices tend to be discreet. This study offers an analysis of metaphors in corruption language based on positive and avoidance contingencies of reinforcement. Our data show that parties to corrupt practices use expressions that accentuate this discreet behavior, whether demanding or offering bribes. Our findings indicate that corruption language can be topographically similar to other verbal utterances, but functionally different when understood in context. Both officials and clients use metaphors to avoid prosecution and social embarrassment. The verbal behavior of the public servant is positively reinforced because he gets a bribe, and the verbal behavior of the client is positively reinforced because he/she receives service or favorable answer to application promptly. However, the payment of money denotes punishment. KEYWORDS: avoidance; corruption; Ghana, corruption; metaphors, disguised mands, positive reinforcement "What do 'beans for the kids' in Kinshasa, 'a glass of wine' in Paris and 'little carps' in Prague have in common"? According to Henig (2013), the phrases do not only indicate something about local cuisines, but they are also euphemisms for bribes (p. 1). The use of corruption language is a common phenomenon associated with the demand and supply sides of corrupt behavior (Vian, Gryboski, Sinoimeri, & Clifford, 2004). Quite a number of works have discussed the nature and role of corruption language in Africa (Adjei, 2009;Hasty, 2005;Polzenhagen & Wolf, 2007). In this article, we explore language associated with soliciting or offering bribes in Ghana. Corruption language is a figurative language of metaphors and euphemisms (as when a speaker uses a disguised mand) associated with soliciting and offering a 1 Author Note: We extend our appreciations to the Ph.D. Group of the Cultural Selection and Behavioral Economics Lab of the Department of Behavioral Science for their feedbacks on earlier versions of the paper. We thank Michael F. Valdez for proofreading and comments. We also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their critical, constructive and supportive comments. This article was presented as a paper at ABAI Congress in San Antonio, May 22-26, 2015, under Wittink (2011), figurative terminologies are common, frequent and pervasive in our verbal behavior. A metaphor (a derivative of the Greek word "metapherein" meaning to transfer), is a "figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable" (Metaphor, n.d.). A metaphor describes one thing in terms of another (Knowles & Moon, 2006). A synecdoche is a form of metaphor in which a part of a thing signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part. For example, in the Lord's Prayer "Give us this day our daily bread," bread will mean food taken each day (Cuddon & Preston, 1998, p. 890). A metonymy, also a form of metaphor, uses the name of an attribute or a thing to substitute the thing its...

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