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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 10, 2025

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

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Descriptive norms can "backfire" in hyper-polarized contexts.

David G Rand¹, Erez Yoeli¹

¹Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 100 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.

|October 16, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Social norm interventions can backfire in polarized contexts. Learning about outgroup behavior, like mask-wearing during COVID-19, unexpectedly increased mask intention among Biden supporters when Trump supporters did not wear masks.

Keywords:

descriptive norms polarization public health messaging social norms

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Behavioral Economics
Public Health Interventions

Background:

Descriptive social norms interventions aim to influence behavior by highlighting common actions.
Hyper-polarized contexts, such as mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, may alter norm intervention effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of descriptive social norms on behavior in a politically polarized context.
To examine the effect of learning about outgroup behavior on ingroup members' intentions.
To explore the underlying mechanisms driving social norm effects and potential backfire.

Main Methods:

Four experiments were conducted, focusing on mask-wearing intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic among Biden supporters.
Interventions involved informing participants about the mask-wearing behaviors of outgroup members (Trump supporters).
A control condition examined dishonesty in a coin-flipping task within a non-polarized context.

Main Results:

A descriptive social norm 'backfire' effect was observed: Biden supporters increased mask-wearing intentions upon learning most Trump supporters did not wear masks.
This backfire effect was linked to changes in perceptions of ingroup members' disapproval of non-mask-wearing.
In a non-polarized context, the traditional descriptive norm effect was observed.

Conclusions:

Descriptive social norm interventions can be counterproductive in highly polarized environments.
Understanding ingroup-outgroup dynamics is crucial for designing effective behavior change strategies.
Publicizing outgroup antisocial behavior may be beneficial for promoting prosocial actions in polarized settings.