The focusing and informational effects of norms on pro-social behavior

Abstract

This paper reports an experiment examining the effect of social norms on pro-social behavior. We test two predictions derived from work in psychology regarding the influence of norms. The first is a "focusing" influence, whereby norms only impact behavior when an individual's attention is drawn to them; and the second is an "informational" influence, whereby a norm exerts a stronger impact on an individual's behavior the more others he observes behaving consistently with that norm. We find support for both effects. Either thinking about or observing the behavior of others produces increased pro-social behavior -even when one expects or observes little pro-social behavior on the part of others -and the degree of pro-social behavior is increasing in the actual and expected pro-social behavior of others. This experiment eliminates strategic influences and thus demonstrates a direct effect of norms on behavior. Keywords: Social norms Altruism a b s t r a c tThis paper reports an experiment examining the effect of social norms on pro-social behavior. We test two predictions derived from work in psychology regarding the influence of norms. The first is a ''focusing" influence, whereby norms only impact behavior when an individual's attention is drawn to them; and the second is an ''informational" influence, whereby a norm exerts a stronger impact on an individual's behavior the more others he observes behaving consistently with that norm. We find support for both effects. Either thinking about or observing the behavior of others produces increased pro-social behavior -even when one expects or observes little pro-social behavior on the part of others -and the degree of pro-social behavior is increasing in the actual and expected pro-social behavior of others. This experiment eliminates strategic influences and thus demonstrates a direct effect of norms on behavior.

License to Cheat: Voluntary Regulation and Ethical Behavior

“…In a similar vein, considerable research demonstrates that people are influenced by what they observe others doing (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955;Zey-Ferrell et al, 1979;Zey-Ferrell and Ferrell, 1982;Jones and Kavanagh, 1996;Brass et al, 1998;Schultz et al, 2007;Krupka and Weber, 2009;Bicchieri and Xiao, 2009;Gino & Galinsky, 2012). A person's decision to be regulated may also be influenced by observing the frequency with which others opt for regulation.…”

Motivation crowding in environmental protection: Evidence from an artefactual field experiment

“…experiments conducted in the laboratory with student samples, show that priming on the socially approved behavior has a positive effect on altruism. Increasing observability of choices and reducing social distance among participants generate higher average contributions in dictator games (Bohnet and Frey, 1999;Hoffman et al, 1996), as does observing others behaving altruistically and focusing one's attention on the existence of a norm (Krupka and Weber, 2009). The introduction of decentralized costly punishment increases investment in the common project in public good games (Fehr and Gaechter, 2000).…”

“…This treatment primes participants on the appropriate behavior in different ways: they learn the appropriate behavior by observing the actions of others; their attention is focused on the existence of a norm; and the observed contribution suggests what behavior is considered as appropriate by other participants. Krupka and Weber (2009) refer to these three channels as the informational, focusing and prescriptive roles of social norms, respectively. In their study, which inspired this treatment, they find that individuals exhibit greater compliance with Table 2 Randomization table: Kruskal-Wallis H test of between group differences across participants from both communities assigned to the four treatment groups.…”

Social comparison nudges—Guessing the norm increases charitable giving

“…Krupka and Weber (2009) find that even without being provided a descriptive norm, giving a guess about peer behavior increases pro-sociality in a binary dictator game by increasing the attention to the norm. Following Krupka and Weber we argue that asking for a guess of the norm would also increase the attention to the provided descriptive norm.…”