Intergenerational Transmission of Conservative Social Norms: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Chen
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Intergenerational Transmission

Altruistic Punishment: The Golden Keystone of Human Cooperation and Social Stability?

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-284
Author(s):  
Peter Lewisch
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Altruistic Punishment ◽  
Costly Punishment ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Emotional Basis ◽  
Instrumental Goal

Abstract ‘Altruistic punishment’ (i.e., costly punishment that serves no instrumental goal for the punisher) could serve, as suggested by the pertinent experimental literature, as a powerful enforcer of social norms. This paper discusses foundations, extensions, and, in particular, limits and open questions of this concept-and it does so mostly based on experimental evidence provided by the author. Inter alia, the paper relates the (standard) literature on negative emotions as a trigger of second party punishment to more recent experimental findings on the phenomenon of ‘spontaneous cooperation’ and ‘spontaneous punishment’ and demonstrates its (tight) emotional basis. Furthermore, the paper discusses the potential for free riding on altruistic punishment. While providing valuable insights into the understanding of social order, ‘altruistic punishment’ is thus not the golden keystone of social stability.

scholarly journals Opt-out choice framing attenuates gender differences in the decision to compete in the laboratory and in the field

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (42) ◽  
pp. e2108337118
Author(s):  
Joyce C. He ◽  
Sonia K. Kang ◽  
Nicola Lacetera
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Gender Imbalance ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Choice Framing

Research shows that women are less likely to enter competitions than men. This disparity may translate into a gender imbalance in holding leadership positions or ascending in organizations. We provide both laboratory and field experimental evidence that this difference can be attenuated with a default nudge—changing the choice to enter a competitive task from a default in which applicants must actively choose to compete to a default in which applicants are automatically enrolled in competition but can choose to opt out. Changing the default affects the perception of prevailing social norms about gender and competition as well as perceptions of the performance or ability threshold at which to apply. We do not find associated negative effects for performance or wellbeing. These results suggest that organizations could make use of opt-out promotion schemes to reduce the gender gap in competition and support the ascension of women to leadership positions.

What noise matters? Experimental evidence for stochastic deviations in social norms

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 101626
Author(s):  
Ennio Bilancini ◽  
Leonardo Boncinelli ◽  
Heinrich H. Nax
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence

scholarly journals Can Contracts Signal Social Norms? Experimental Evidence

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 459-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Danilov ◽  
Dirk Sliwka
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence

scholarly journals Let's (Not) Get Together!: The Role of Social Norms in Social Distancing during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Déborah Martínez ◽  
Cristina Parilli ◽  
Carlos Scartascini ◽  
Alberto Simpser
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Fictional Character ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Predicted Probability ◽  
Communication Campaigns

While effective preventive measures against COVID-19 are now widely known, many individuals fail to adopt them. This paper provides experimental evidence about one potentially important driver of compliance with social distancing: social norms. We asked each of 23,000 survey respondents in Mexico to predict how a fictional person would behave when faced with the choice about whether or not to attend a friend's birthday gathering. Every respondent was randomly assigned to one of four social norms conditions. Expecting that other people would attend the gathering and/or believing that other people approved of attending the gathering both increased the predicted probability that the fictional character would attend the gathering by 25% in comparison with a scenario where other people were not expected to attend nor to approve of attending. Our results speak to the potential effects of communication campaigns and media coverage of, compliance with, and normative views about COVID-19 preventive measures. They also suggest that policies aimed at modifying social norms or making existing ones salient could impact compliance.

scholarly journals Experimental evidence that changing beliefs about mask efficacy and social norms increase mask wearing for COVID-19 risk reduction: Results from the United States and Italy

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258282
Author(s):  
Scott E. Bokemper ◽  
Maria Cucciniello ◽  
Tiziano Rotesi ◽  
Paolo Pin ◽  
Amyn A. Malik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Do So

In the absence of widespread vaccination for COVID-19, governments and public health officials have advocated for the public to wear masks during the pandemic. The decision to wear a mask in public is likely affected by both beliefs about its efficacy and the prevalence of the behavior. Greater mask use in the community may encourage others to follow this norm, but it also creates an incentive for individuals to free ride on the protection afforded to them by others. We report the results of two vignette-based experiments conducted in the United States (n = 3,100) and Italy (n = 2,659) to examine the causal relationship between beliefs, social norms, and reported intentions to engage in mask promoting behavior. In both countries, survey respondents were quota sampled to be representative of the country’s population on key demographics. We find that providing information about how masks protect others increases the likelihood that someone would wear a mask or encourage others to do so in the United States, but not in Italy. There is no effect of providing information about how masks protect the wearer in either country. Additionally, greater mask use increases intentions to wear a mask and encourage someone else to wear theirs properly in both the United States and Italy. Thus, community mask use may be self-reinforcing.

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