The Effects Of Guanxi And Punishments On False Enforcement

False enforcement has been concentrated on in social psychology, which means that one may comply with a norm(unpopular norm) that is not endorsed privately in public. Robb Willer(2009) found that false enforcement is universal, and that the reason why one complies with an unpopular norm is to acquire the peer approval by showing sincerity to others. Robb Willer’s theory about false enforcement was proved by the reproduction research in this dissertation, in which some further research was done about the tendency of false enforcement-the effect of punishments on false enforcement. To a large extent, Chinese society is based on guanxi and the social relationship between acquaintances. Interactions in real life are among acquaintances in China, while those are among strangers in the West.Taking the relationship between university roommates as an example, the punishment is classified into two types-the nominal punishment and the actual punishment, and the effect of guanxi and punishments on false enforcement is discussed in this dissertation. Conclusions are drawn as below, (1) punishments have the effect of inhibition on false enforcement; (2)the actual punishment is much more effective than nominal punishment on the inhibition of false enforcement; (3) false enforcers tend to comply with acquaintances; (4) where there is a punishment,the acquaintance does not affect false enforcement. The research area of false enforcement is expanded by these results,which account for some problems in real life.