Cognitive Processes in Rule Violation.

Understanding the cognitive processing mechanism of rule violation is required as the basis for preventing rule violation and promoting rule compliance. Here, we review the cognitive processing of rule violations. After reviewing the theories and evidence on the cognitive processes involved in rule violations, a new model is proposed. The model decomposes the cognitive processes of rule violation into three: activation, conflict, and inhibition. Specifically, when individuals encounter a situation in which a rule violation is possible or tasks that require violating the rules, the rule-based and violation responses are successively and simultaneously activated in the mind. The simultaneous activation of the two responses causes individuals to experience a response-selection conflict during the initiation phase and a motor-execution conflict during the execution phase. After the individual decides whether to violate the rules, the activation of the two responses is inhibited to a varying degree. Currently, the understanding of the cognitive processing of rule violation is limited and worth of further investigation. Therefore, future research should improve the existing paradigm of rule violation, enhance the ecological validity of experimental designs, and explore irrational, cognitive, and social factors in the cognitive processing of rule violation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]