The criminal justice system relies heavily on normative judgments by judges and juries. However, people do not make judgments based solely on the merits of a case. Instead, individuals tend to employ punishment styles that tend toward being either more retributive (i.e., a vengeful punishment style) or more utilitarian (i.e., a punishment style based on considering possible future consequences). Previous research suggests that individuals with more psychopathic traits - including low anxiety, impulsive or antisocial behavior, and emotional detachment - are deficient in retributive punishment and tend to punish offenders using a utilitarian method. Because a lack of anxiety has been noted as predominant in major accounts of psychopathy, this study was undertaken in part to investigate whether anxiety was the driving factor behind previous findings of difference in punishment style.

Since individuals high in psychopathic traits were more utilitarian in their punishments, it was hypothesized that high levels of anxiety would correlate with more retributive punishment decisions. Participants' anxiety was measured using the Neuroticism scale of the 48-item version of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI-48). All participants also read two vignettes involving a crime committed by a male offender. After reading each vignette, participants completed a questionnaire to indicate the appropriate punishment for the respective offender. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the appropriate punishment for the offender as well as manipulation checks and filler questions. Participant's scores on the EPI-48 Neuroticism subscale were then correlated to their individual punishment ratings. A total rating was also calculated for each participant for both vignettes and correlated to participant's scores on the EPI-48 Neuroticism subscale.

There were no observed correlations between participants' EPI-48 Neuroticism sub-scale scores and punishment responses for the offenders in either condition, except for one. Participants' scores on the EPI-48 Neuroticism sub-scale positively correlated with how much time in a mental institution they assigned to the offender in the low-intent, high-recidivism-risk condition. Extraversion, another sub-scale of the EPI-48, also weakly negatively correlated with one of the punishment scores in the low-intent, high-recidivism-risk condition style. Contrary to expectation, anxiety as measured by EPI-48 Neuroticism did not appear to underlie punishment style in this study. Instead, a more complex mechanism is likely at work.