Cultural Violence: A Preliminary Analysis of Rights and Duties

Restricting the rights of outgroups and the refusal to accept one's duty to protect such groups can be a form of cultural violence. Even when individuals verbally report they support human rights, it may be the case that thinking about rights primes thoughts of individual-instead of group-protection. A first study validated the proposition that duties are associated more with groups and rights more with individuals. Next, across two studies, I tested to see if priming individuals to think about rights or duties would change their beliefs in terms of group support across a variety of dilemmas. My results showed that duties led to greater support for the collective, suggesting focusing on duties may be an important factor in reducing cultural violence. Public Significance Statement We frame issues in terms of rights, but our results show that framing issues in terms of duties may lend more public support and increase helping behavior.