THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VANDALISM

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VANDALISM

THE PLENUM SERIES IN SOCIAL/CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Series Editor: C. R. Snyder University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas Current Volumes in this Series: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR Current Perspectives Edited by 1. Rowell Huesmann THE ECOLOGY OF AGGRESSION Arnold P. Goldstein EFFICACY, AGENCY, AND SELF-ESTEEM Edited by Michael H. Kernis HUMAN LEARNED HELPLESSNESS A Coping Perspective Mario Mikulincer PATHOLOGICAL SELF-CRITICISM Assessment and Treatment Raymond M. Bergner PROCRASTINATION AND TASK AVOIDANCE Theory, Research, and Treatment Joseph R. Ferrari, Judith 1. Johnson, and William G. McCown THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VANDALISM Arnold P. Goldstein SELF-EFFICACY, ADAPTATION, AND ADJUSTMENT Theory, Research, and Application Edited by James E. Maddux SELF-ESTEEM The Puzzle of Low Self-Regard Edited by Roy F. Baumeister A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VANDALISM ARNOLD P. GOLDSTEIN Syracuse University Syracuse, New York Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goldstein, Arnold P. The psychology of vandalism / Arnold P. Goldstein. p. cm. (The Plenum series in socia1/c1inical psychology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4899-0178-1 1. Vandalism Psychological aspects. 2. Vandalism Prevention. I. Title. II. Series. HV6666.G65 1996 364. T64 dc20 95-44578 CIP ISBN 978-1-4899-0178-1 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0176-7 ISBN 978-1-4899-0176-7 (ebook) 1996 Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 All rights reserved 10 987654321 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

To Lauren Noe and Rachel Akie

PREFACE Vandalism is a serious and growing problem in the United States and beyond. Schools, parks and playgrounds, mass transit vehicles, city streets, museums, libraries, and numerous other venues are its common targets. As higher and perhaps more dramatic expressions and concomitants of aggression-fights, assaults, gangs, guns, the drug trade-have grown and increasingly commanded public and professional attention, focus on its less damaging expressions has diminished. Vandalism is one casualty of such diminished attention. For reasons made clear in Chapter 1, society pays a handsome price for its relative ignoring of low levels of aggression expressiveness. In this book, I seek to remediate this absence of concern through a comprehensive presentation and examination of the status, causation, prevention, and remediation of vandalistic behavior. In telling the "story" of vandalism, I begin (Chapter 1) with an exploration of its importance, consequences, frequency, and costs. This exploration shows vandalism to be a serious societal problem. In Chapter 2, I attempt to bring some clarity to the confusing array of definitions that have been offered over the years for vandalism, a term variously employed both too restrictively and too inclusively. Further in this chapter, I examine demographic information in order to begin painting an approximate profile of both the "typical" vandal and his or her frequent targets. Why such behavior occurs is addressed in Chapter 3, primarily a consideration of the several typologies of vandalism motivation and the small but pregnant number of theories of its etiology. The book's remaining chapters deal with intervention. With "strategies" representing schema, plans, or perspectives, and "tactics" the concrete means for implementing such plans, Chapters 4 and 5 deal, respectively, with vandalism intervention strategies and tactics. Environment-oriented vii

viii PREFACE and vandal-oriented strategies are described and evaluated, and a strong case is made for the value of a dual, person-environment strategic intervention orientation. The several dozen tactical procedures for actually intervening are catalogued and listed in Chapter 5 by subtypes so as to facilitate such person-environment intervention. This facilitation effort expands in Chapter 6, where approaches to selecting and combining single interventions into intervention programs of probable effectiveness are described. A series of additional effectiveness-enhancing characteristics of intervention efforts are also described and examined, toward the goal of maximizing their vandalism prevention and reduction impact. Do such programs actually succeed? Vandalism intervention research, unfortunately, has not been frequently conducted and, when it has, has frequently not been of rigorous quality. Chapter 6 concludes with a presentation of research design and measurement alternatives and suggestions offering the potential of enhancing the quality of such needed investigative effort. The book's text (Chapter 7) concludes with a brief, but important, journey to the topic of ecovandalism-the many individual and organized sources of damage and destruction to our macroenvironment. Here I briefly describe the large number of beginning efforts by psychological researchers to better understand the role of human behavior as it relates to ecovandalistic damage, as well as possible means for altering such behavior in prosocial directions. This expansion of the domain of vandalism studies appears to be an especially worthwhile advance for psychological inquiry. What is known today about the causes and reduction of vandalism rests far too extensively on a shaky foundation of anecdote, experience, and speculation, and far too little on rigorous research. However, a small amount of such investigative inquiry, both quantitative and qualitative, does exist. The final section of this book, a research appendix, consists of a small group of exemplary studies focused upon one or another significant aspect of vandalism. I include them here as both information and example, in the hope of stimulating further high-quality empirical efforts by other investigators.

CONTENTS Chapter 1 Why Study Vandalism? 1 Downsizing Deviance... 1 Frequency of Occurrence... 2 Costs and Consequences... 8 Monetary Costs... 8 Social Costs.............................................. 11 Chapter 2 Definitions and Demographics 17 Background and Current Concepts... 17 The Vandal... 23 The Ecology of Vandalism: Context and Target................. 26 Chapter 3 Causation................................................. 31 Motivational Typologies..................................... 31 Theories of Causation....................................... 38 Enjoyment Theory... 39 Aesthetic Theory... 41 Equity-Control Theory... 43 ix

x CONTENTS Chapter 4 Intervention: Alternative Strategies 47 The Person-Environment Duet........................ 48 Vandalism Intervention Strategies... 50 Changing the Physical and Social Environment... 50 Changing the Vandal... 55 Person-Environment Strategies... 60 Chapter 5 Intervention: Implementation Tactics 61 1. Target Hardening... 61 2. Access Control... 62 3. Deflecting Offenders..................................... 63 4. Controlling Facilitators................................... 63 5. Exit-Entry Screening..................................... 64 6. Formal Surveillance... 64 7. Natural Surveillance... 65 8. Target Removal... 66 9. Identifying Property... 67 10. Removing Inducements... 67 11. Rule Setting... 67 12. Education... 68 13. Publicity... 69 14. Punishment.................................. 69 15. Counseling... 69 16. Involvement... 70 17. Organizational Climate... 70 Chapter 6 Intervention: Combinations and Evaluations............... 73 Complexity of Cause........................................ 73 Complexity of Intervention.................................. 75 Optimal Intervention Characteristics... 78 Comprehensive Programming... 78 Prescriptive Programming... 78 Appreciative Programming... 80 Intervention Integrity... 81

CONTENTS xi Intervention Intensity... 81 Intervention Coordination... 81 Intervention Evaluation... 82 Chapter 7 Ecovandalism and Psychological Inquiry 87 References... 93 RESEARCH ApPENDIX Cultural Resource Protection: A Predictive Framework for Identifying Site Vulnerability, Protection Priorities, and Effective Protection Strategies... 117 Harriet H. Christensen, Ken Mabery, Martin E. McAllister, and Dale P. McCormick Preventing School Vandalism and Improving Discipline: A Three-Year Study... 127 G. Roy Mayer, Tom Butterworth, Mary Nafpaktitis, and Beth Sulzer-Azaroff Countering Sign Vandalism with Public Service Advertising.................................. 149 Katherine Frith Theft and Mutilation of Library Materials Terri L. Pedersen 157 The Equity Control Model as a Predictor of Vandalism among College Students... 171 Sylvia Warzecha DeMore, Jeffrey D. Fisher, and Reuben M. Baron

xii CONTENTS Shame and Embarrassment as Deterrents to Noncompliance with the Law: The Case of an Antilittering Campaign... 183 Harold G. Grasmick, Robert J. Bursik, Jr., and Karyl A. Kinsey A Search for the Elusive Setting Events of School Vandalism: A Correlational Study................... 199 G. Roy Mayer, Mary Nafpaktitis, Tom Butterworth, and Pam Hollingsworth Environmental Correlates of School Vandalism Pavel Pablant and James C. Baxter 213 The Spatial Ecology of Stripped Cars... 235 David Ley and Roman Cybriwsky Environmental Cues and Vandalism: An Exploratory Study of Picnic Table Carving... 245 Diane M. Samdahl and Harriet H. Christensen Increasing Public Involvement to Reduce Depreciative Behavior in Recreation Settings.................. 255 Harriet H. Christensen and Roger N. Clark Field and Laboratory Studies of Littering... 273 Robert M. Krauss, Jonathan L. Freedman, and Morris Whitcup Index... 291