Rand David G, Yoeli Erez
Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 100 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
PNAS Nexus. 2024 Oct 15;3(10):pgae303. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae303. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Descriptive social norms interventions, where a behavior is promoted by learning that others engage in that behavior, are a cornerstone of behavior change research and practice. Here, we examine the effect of learning about the behavior of outgroup members in a hyper-polarized context: mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to prior findings, we find a descriptive social norm "backfire": Across three experiments, Biden supporters increased their mask-wearing intentions after being informed that most Trump supporters never wore masks. We also provide evidence consistent with a mechanism whereby this effect was driven by changes in perceptions about how negatively ingroup members view nonmask wearing. Finally, in a fourth study, Biden supporters show the traditional descriptive norms effect (rather than a backfire) from the same treatment when in a nonpolarized context: dishonesty in a coin-flipping task. These findings help to clarify why descriptive social norm interventions promote behavior change, and underscore the importance of social norms in motivating prosocial behaviors. They also suggest an update to current best practices in the design of descriptive norm interventions: in polarized contexts, it can be beneficial to publicize antisocial behavior of outgroup members.
描述性社会规范干预，即通过了解他人参与某种行为来促进该行为，是行为改变研究与实践的基石。在此，我们研究在高度两极分化的背景下了解外群体成员行为的影响：新冠疫情期间戴口罩的情况。与先前的研究结果相反，我们发现了一种描述性社会规范的“适得其反”现象：在三项实验中，拜登的支持者在得知大多数特朗普的支持者从不戴口罩后，增加了他们戴口罩的意愿。我们还提供了与一种机制相符的证据，即这种效应是由对群体内成员如何负面看待不戴口罩的看法变化所驱动的。最后，在第四项研究中，拜登的支持者在非两极分化的背景下，从相同的处理方式中表现出了传统的描述性规范效应（而非适得其反）：在抛硬币任务中的不诚实行为。这些发现有助于阐明为什么描述性社会规范干预能促进行为改变，并强调了社会规范在激发亲社会行为方面的重要性。它们还表明了对描述性规范干预设计中当前最佳实践的更新：在两极分化的背景下，宣传外群体成员的反社会行为可能是有益的。
