Social norms and dishonesty across societies

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Social Psychology
• Moral Psychology

Background:

• Social norms are traditionally viewed as crucial for curbing antisocial behavior.
• Stricter prosocial norms are generally linked to increased prosocial actions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the unexpected negative relationship between very strict prosocial norms and prosocial behavior.
• To examine how rigid adherence to norms influences rule-violating actions.

Main Methods:

• Conducted laboratory experiments in 10 countries across 5 continents.
• Measured honest behavior and elicited injunctive norms of honesty.
• Extended analysis to civic norms concerning tax evasion, benefit fraud, and fare dodging.

Main Results:

• Individuals with very strict norms (seeing small and large lies as equally unacceptable) were more prone to lying to the maximum extent.
• This pattern held true for civic norms, with strict attitudes correlating with maximal rule violations.
• Cross-country analysis revealed that societies with more individuals holding strict civic norms exhibited higher rates of rule violations.

Conclusions:

• Extremely strict prosocial norms can lead to a perverse increase in antisocial behavior.
• The lack of differentiation in perceived norm severity incentivizes maximizing personal gain through maximal rule violation.
• Societal-level strictness of civic norms predicts higher prevalence of rule violations.