The influence of social sanctioning on an individual’s conduct is partly determined by that individual’s personality characteristics and by the strength of conflicting civilisation elements in the personal civilisation.
- Explanation. The same social sanction need not have the same effect on every individual. Personality characteristics may affect sensitivity to group pressure, authority or rejection. A sanction may also conflict with strongly internalised civilisation elements of the individual. The stronger such conflicting elements are, the weaker the sanction’s influence on conduct may be.
Last updated: 2 October 2026