Retributive Responses

Retributive responses do play a role in human behavior. Whether they are primarily triggered by supposed intentions or by observed consequences of actions is an important question. It can be addressed by experimental studies of retributive responses in situations in which the individual actor my inflict harmful consequences without intending and intend harmful consequences than by ascribed intentions. However, individual retributive motivations seems to be overshadowed by the concerns that are non-retributive altogether in that they focus on end state distributions independently of who brought them about.