Kevin Carlsmith
- Media Contact
IN MEMORIAM
Professor Kevin Carlsmith died from cancer on November 19, 2011, in his boyhood home in Portola Valley, California. Social Psychology Network is maintaining this profile for visitors who wish to learn more about Professor Carlsmith's work.
Please see below for more information:
- Psychology professor Kevin Carlsmith dies at age 44 (Colgate University)
- Memorial: Kevin M. Carlsmith *01 (Princeton Alumni Weekly)
My research examines theories of morality and justice in a social psychological context. I study how ordinary people perceive social transgressions, including their beliefs and intuitions about what the proper consequences should be for these transgressions. In conducting this research, I focus on the interaction between personal intuitions of justice and the formal codes of the individual's organization or society and the consequences that arise from a discrepancy between the two.
Current projects investigate whether people punish for the purpose of deterrence, or to give the perpetrator his or her "just deserts." Recent findings suggest that although people behave in line with a retributive or just deserts theory, they frequently justify their behavior on the grounds of deterrence. It appears that people are not aware of this discrepancy, and that this misunderstanding of their own motives can actually lead people to support laws that, when enacted, will be seen as deeply unjust.
Primary Interests:
- Aggression, Conflict, Peace
- Applied Social Psychology
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Ethics and Morality
- Interpersonal Processes
- Law and Public Policy
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Social Cognition
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Journal Articles:
- Carlsmith, K. M. (2008). On justifying punishment: The discrepancy between words and actions. Social Justice Research, 21, 119-137.
- Carlsmith, K. M. (2006). The roles of retribution and utility in determining punishment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 437-451.
- Carlsmith, K. M., Darley, J. M., & Robinson, P. H. (2002). Why do we punish? Deterrence and just deserts as motives for punishment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 284-299.
- Carlsmith, K. M., Monahan, J., & Evans, A. (2007). The function of punishment in the "civil" commitment of sexually violent predators. Behavioral Sciences & the Law.
- Carlsmith, K. M., & Sood, A. M. (2009). The fine line between interrogation and retribution. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 191-196.
- Carlsmith, K. M., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T (2008). The paradoxical consequences of revenge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1316-1324.
- Carlsmith, K. M., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). The paradoxical consequences of revenge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1316-1324.
- Darley, J. M., Carlsmith, K. M., & Robinson, P. H. (2001). The ex ante function of the criminal law. Law & Society Review, 35, 701-726.
- Darley, J. M., Carlsmith, K. M., & Robinson, P. H. (2000). Incapacitation and just deserts as motives for punishment. Law and Human Behavior, 24, 659-683.
- Mayer, J. D., & Carlsmith, K. M. (1997). Eminence rankins of personality psychologists as a reflection of the field. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(7), 707-716.
- Mayer, J. D., Carlsmith, K. M., & Chabot, H. F. (1998). Describing the person's external environment: Conceptualizing and measuring the life space. Journal of Research in Personality, 32, 253-296.
- Mayer, J. D., Chabot, H. F., & Carlsmith, K. M. (1997). Chapter 2 conation, affect, and cognition in personality. Advances in Psychology, 124, 31-63.
Other Publications:
- Carlsmith, K. M., & Darley, J. M. (2008). Psychological aspects of retributive justice. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 40, pp. 193-236). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.
- Wilson, T. D., Aronson, E., & Carlsmith, K. M. (2010). Experimentation in social psychology. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske and G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Courses Taught:
- Advanced Social Psychology
- Introduction to Personality and Social Psychology
- Just Punishment
- Persuasion and Propaganda
- Research Design and Statistics
- Senior Seminar in Social Psychology
