Prosocial Norms Research Articles

“We Got Tired”

In this commentary, I raise the issue of how well we can distinguish between religious systems and those presided over by messianic “quasi-divine” leaders. This problematizes the degree to which all such systems can be described as ecologically functional when they can also be directed by the idiosyncratic whims of unstable charismatic individuals. Aside from such issues, I also raise the issue of how we can be sure that the “religious system” is reliably adaptive, if we may not have an accurate tally of such systems in the first place, particularly given the fact that religious studies scholars are incapable of providing a distinction between a “cult” that may contain but a few individuals and quickly “fail” due to its esoteric demands, and millennia-old traditions commanding millions of adherents and enforcing prosocial norms. I also raise two issues that have long bedevilled functionalist approaches but that do not make much of an appearance in Religion Evolving: Cultural, Cognitive, and Ecological Dynamics (Purzycki & Sosis 2022): the boundary problem and the Pangloss problem. Despite these reservations, I applaud the book both for its rigour and for providing a sorely needed template for analyzing religious systems within the cognitive and evolutionary study of religion (CESR). I close by tentatively suggesting that religion’s ubiquity lies not with its adaptiveness per se, but with its capacity to accelerate cultural evolution by causing societies to lock in values that may either be adaptive or maladaptive, making sacralization ubiquitous even when its outcomes can be destructive.

Social Media Co-pilot: Designing a chatbot with teens and educators to combat cyberbullying

Teens often encounter cyberbullying on social media. One promising way to reduce cyberbullying is through empowering teens to stand up for their peers and cultivating prosocial norms online. While there is no shortage of bystander interventions that have shown potential, little research has explored designing chatbots with users to provide a contextualized and embedded “learning at the moment” experience for bystanders. This study involved teens and educators in two design sessions: an in-depth interview to identify the barriers that prevent upstanding behaviors, and interaction with the “social media co-pilot'' chatbot prototype to identify design guidelines to empower teens to overcome these barriers. Qualitative analysis on the conversations from the two design sessions revealed three factors that curb teens' upstanding behaviors: a) inadequate knowledge about social norms, appropriate language, and consequences, b) inhibitive emotions such as fear of retaliation and confrontation; c) lack of empathy toward their peers. Key parameters were also identified to shape chatbot responses to encourage upstanding behaviors, such as a) adopting voices representing multiple roles, b) empathetic, friendly and encouraging tone, c) reflective, specific and relatable language and d) appropriate length. These insights inform the design of personalized and scalable education programs and moderation tools to combat cyberbullying.

Social norms and cooperation in higher-order networks

Recent research has been focused on understanding how cooperation is fostered through various mechanisms in cognitive settings, particularly through pairwise interactions. However, real-world interactions often extend beyond simple dyads, including multiple cliques with both pairwise and higher-order interactions. These complex interactions influence how individuals perceive and adapt their strategies based on social norms. We here introduce a model that explores the evolution of collective strategies and social norms within a heterogeneous environment, encompassing both dyadic and three-body interactions. We find that social norms play a crucial role in promoting cooperation in comparison with simply imitating the most successful neighbour. We also show that the rise of prosocial norms leads to increased cooperation across various social dilemmas, often resulting in shifts from defective to cooperative behaviour. Additionally, we observe that a moderate level of information privacy helps sustaining prosocial norms and curtails antisocial tendencies, even in situations where mutual defection might seem advantageous. Our research thus offers insights into the evolution of cooperation through the lens of social norm diffusion in higher-order networks.

Psychosocial correlates of parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.

Public health guidance recommended that children who are 6 months or older be vaccinated against COVID-19 in June of 2022. In the U.S., 56% of children under 17 had not received the COVID-19 vaccination in 2023. We examine parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 using the theory of planned behavior in order to design effective strategies to promote vaccine uptake. The Philadelphia Community Engagement Alliance is part of an NIH community-engaged consortium focused on addressing COVID-19 disparities across the U.S. We surveyed 1,008 Philadelphia parents (mean age 36.86, SD 6.55; 42.3% racial/ethnic minorities) between September 2021 and February 2022, a period when guidance for child vaccination was anticipated. Structural Equation Modeling analysis examined associations between parental willingness and vaccine-related attitudes, norms, and perceived control. Covariates included parents' COVID-19 vaccination status, race/ethnicity, gender, and survey completion post-CDC pediatric COVID-19 vaccination guidelines. Subgroup analyses by race/ethnicity and gender were conducted. Our model demonstrated good fit (χ2 = 907.37, df = 419, p<0.001; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.951; non-normed fit index [NNFI] = 0.946; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.034 with 95% CI = 0.030-0.038). Attitudes ([Formula: see text] = 0.447, p<0.001) and subjective norms ([Formula: see text] = 0.309, p = 0.002) were predictors of intention. Racial/ethnic minority parents exhibited weaker vaccination intentions ([Formula: see text] = -0.053, p = 0.028) than non-Hispanic White parents. Parents' attitudes and norms influence their vaccination intentions. Despite the survey predating widespread child vaccine availability, findings are pertinent given the need to increase and sustain pediatric vaccinations against COVID-19. Interventions promoting positive vaccine attitudes and prosocial norms are warranted. Tailored interventions and diverse communication strategies for parental subgroups may be useful to ensure comprehensive and effective vaccination initiatives.

Artificial intelligence is a pro-social norm complier

Humans behave pro-socially and the degree to their pro-social behavior depends crucially on social norms. I ask whether artificial intelligence chatbots exhibit pro-social behavior which is influenced by information on human norms. I show that it is. AI is asked to make an allocation decision in a Dictator Game. Treatments are included with either descriptive and injunctive norms. When the social norm is to be more generous, AI’s willingness to give to others improves. AI is equally responsive to descriptive and injunctive norms.

Shifting perspectives: High school students' evaluations of a social norms campaign to reduce bullying and sexual harassment and promote helping behavior

AbstractBullying and sexual harassment are commonly experienced by secondary students, yet these behaviors are seldom targeted for intervention in high schools. Norms and Bystander Intervention Training (NAB IT!) is a program designed to address bullying and sexual harassment through promoting prosocial norms and helping behaviors among high school students. This mixed methods study examined students' receptivity to and perceptions of the NAB IT! social norms campaign. The campaign was delivered over 7 weeks in a suburban high school (grades 9–12) in the northeastern United States. Twenty‐eight students (60.7% females; 25.0% males; 7.2% genderqueer/gender non‐conforming/transgender) participated in focus group discussions and provided quantitative ratings of the campaign. Participants were White (82.1%), Asian (7.1%), Multiracial (7.1%), and African American (3.6%). Students appreciated the prosocial messaging and believed that the campaign raised awareness of bullying and sexual harassment. Students reported that the campaign elicited greater self‐reflection and discussion about potentially harmful behaviors. Nonetheless, some students doubted the credibility of the messages and noted incongruence between the messages and what they have observed in the school. Students indicated the need for more skills training for themselves and for faculty.

Iranian community-dwelling older adults' perceptions of prosociality: A qualitative study.

The world population is aging at an accelerating rate, and prosociality aspects increase in people with age. This study aimed to explore Iranian community-dwelling older adults' perspectives of the prosociality concept. This qualitative study was conducted among older adults aged 60 years and older in Qom City, Iran. A purposive sampling method was used to collect data between July and October 2022. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 older adults engaged in various types of prosocial activities. Data were analyzed applying a directed content analysis approach. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using MAXQDA 20 software. Overall, 5 main categories and 19 subcategories emerged from the content data analysis. The two emerged categories were related to the predetermined dimensions of the prosociality concept, namely, "prosocial behaviors" and "prosocial dispositions." The remaining three newly emerged categories included "egocentric motives," "facilitators," and "barriers" to prosocial behaviors. As participants reported, "informal spontaneous helping" was the most prevalent subcategory of prosocial behaviors. "Prosocial norms" and "social reward-seeking" were identified as the most common subcategories of prosocial dispositions and egocentric motives, respectively. Likewise, participants mentioned "religious and metaphysic beliefs" and "social distrust" as important facilitators and barriers, respectively. The results of this qualitative study provide a new understanding of the prosociality concept among older adults in the context of Iran. In conclusion, to improve prosocial behaviors in this population, the interaction between all factors that influence it such as motives, facilitators, and barriers must be considered.

Effects of prosocial norms on consumers’ social value perceptions, attitudes, and repurchase intentions toward green products

Social value of green products have received considerable attention. Because few scholars have investigated the effects of prosocial norms on the formation of social value perceptions, this article explores whether prosocial descriptive and injunctive norms affect people’s perceived social value of green products, which affects their attitudes and purchase intentions toward green products. The research sample comprised consumers who possessed purchased green products previously 3 months, and 400 questionnaires were collected. The gathered data were assessed through structural equation modeling. The results state that consumer-perceived social value possesses a positive impact on attitude toward green products, which in turn positively influences repurchase intentions. Furthermore, both descriptive norms and injunctive norms positively impact consumer-perceived social value, whereas only descriptive norms positively have an effect on attitude toward green products. Depending on the aforementioned results, this research suggests that governments and green marketers adopt the social norms perspective to encourage consumers to continuously buy green products by generating consumer perceptions of social value and positive attitudes toward green products.

The sound of silence: The importance of bystander support for confronters in the prevention of norm erosion.

Observing deviant behaviour can lead to 'norm erosion', where a norm is no longer seen as relevant and compliance with it is reduced. Previous research argues that social confrontations can mitigate norm erosion. However, this work has not considered the impact of bystanders to confrontations, who might influence the outcome by supporting-or failing to support-the person confronting a social rule breaker. We examine the effect of bystanders' reactions on preventing norm erosion across three experimental studies. We examined how supportive and non-supportive bystander reactions to a confronter impacted the perceived strength of a prosocial norm among participants and their behavioural intentions. We find that when bystanders explicitly supported the confronter against the rule breaker, the norm was perceived as stronger-and sometimes, compliance intentions were higher-than when bystanders did not respond to the confronter. A mini meta-analysis across the three studies reveals that the effect of bystander support on perceived norm strength is large and robust. Our work demonstrates that for the prevention of norm erosion, confrontations benefit greatly from being explicitly supported by bystanders.

Socio-Demographic Correlates of of Social Disorganization and Neighborhood Quality

The aim of the research was to determine the relationship between socio-demographic variables of the respondents and the perception of social disorganization related to housing conditions and the quality of the neighborhood. The research was conducted in December 2022 on a sample of 102 respondents (49 male and 53 female), average age 43. The following scales and questionnaires were applied: Sociodemographic Variables Questionnaire, Social Organization Inventory and Social Perception Scale. The results of the research showed that socio-demographic variables have influence on the perception of social disorganization and neighborhood quality. It was found that there is a statistically significant positive association with the social disorganization variable in the direction of the impact of tenants on the quality of collective living, emotional ties of tenants, the need to fulfill requests, neighborhood stability and informal control. The data indicate that all individual items of the subtest of the neighborhood variable showed a statistically significant positive association with tenants' external connections, with institutions related to the quality of housing, pro-social norms of collective housing, basic participation of tenants in skyscraper activities, informal participation of tenants in skyscraper activities and formal participation of tenants in skyscraper activities. Factor analysis revealed three dominant factors: involvement of tenants in activities of common interest, connection and assistance among tenants, and opportunities to improve living conditions for all tenants by engaging in the local community. The obtained results suggest positive attitudes related to housing values that arise from social organization and neighborhood quality. The paper is concluded with recommendations for future research and directions.

The Concept of Prosociality in Later Life and Its Dimensions: A Scoping Review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify various aspects and dimensions of the prosociality concept in later life as an important concept that gains significance in people as they age. This concept has been expressed through a variety of dimensions in different studies. Method : This is a scoping review of the relevant literature on the concept of prosociality and its dimensions in later life, including quantitative and qualitative studies. The required data were collected from Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases between the years 1987 and 2022. Results: First, 877 articles were identified, and after the screening phase, 57 eligible studies were reviewed. Two main categories, prosocial dispositions and prosocial behaviors, and seven subcategories were extracted. The subcategories of prosocial dispositions include empathy, prosocial norms, innate tendencies, and generative desires. Prosocial behaviors subcategories include informal spontaneous helping, formal planned helping, and pro-environmental behaviors. Conclusion: The various aspects and dimensions of the prosociality concept in later life identified in this study can be used as a basis for assessing and planning the promotion of prosociality among older adults.

The Moral Matrix of Capitalism: Insights from Central and Eastern Europe

This special section aims to shed light on moral milieus and agencies in contemporary capitalist central and eastern Europe. Drawing on case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Russia, it offers insight into changing perceptions of proper economy and practice amongst a broad range of actors—from landfill workers to business managers and the super-rich. The contributors explore how actors at various scales morally construct, contest, and defend ideas of justice, (re-)distribution, and social worth, as well as socio-economic hierarchy, inequality, and harm. They analyse the capitalist moral transformation and order in the region and examine the local appropriation of and buy-in to (as well as critique of) aspects of neoliberal moral orders—a topic sidelined in much of the existing moral economy scholarship. Exploring a broad range of moral economic phenomena, the contributors move beyond the conventional definition of morals as prosocial norms and action, approaching morals as a broader empirical phenomenon of economy and politics. They examine the actions, practices, and reasoning of different actors in relation to shifting notions of acceptable and unacceptable, just and unjust, and praiseworthy and blameworthy behaviour. As such, this collection makes the case for widening the empirical object and analytical purchase of moral economy to include the study of not only moral critiques and resistance to capitalism but also the diverse moral agencies, milieus and orders of capitalism, and the ways in which the advancement and embedding of the capitalist moral order has shaped economic life in the region.

Do prosocial‐certified companies walk the talk? An analysis of B Corps' contributions to Sustainable Development Goals

AbstractThis paper investigates the contribution of the B Corp movement in Europe to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) compared with non‐B Corps. B Corp certification aims to identify organisations that utilise business as ‘a force for good’, but there is limited empirical evidence on how effectively certified organisations translate their prosocial claims into measurable SDG contributions. We address this through cluster analysis, comparing 313 B Corp‐certified and 1506 non‐certified European companies by way of the SDG Action Manager tool. Our findings reveal three clusters of B Corp‐certified organisations with varying contribution levels across all SDGs, indicating that the certification does not consistently identify organisations with significant SDG impacts. Non‐certified companies, meanwhile, do not exhibit distinct patterns. These results raise doubts about whether the B Corp category identifies a distinctive prototype member that can define clear prosocial norms and practices. The paper contributes to understanding B Corp organisations' narratives by providing insights into their empirical performance compared with non‐certified organisations. It also offers potential explanations for these discrepancies and proposes strategies to strengthen B Corp certification bodies in alignment with the SDGs, while acknowledging the presence of intra‐category variations.

Investigating the tendency to use COVID-19 vaccine booster dose in Iran

IntroductionVaccine hesitancy is recognized as a significant public health threats, characterized by delays, refusals, or reluctance to accept vaccinations despite their availability. This study, aimed to investigate the willingness of Iranians to receive booster shots, refusal rate, and their preferred type of COVID-19 vaccine.Materials and methodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted over a month from August 23 to September 22, 2022 using an online questionnaire distributed through WhatsApp and Telegram online communities. The questionnaire assessed participants’ intent to accept COVID-19 booster vaccination and had no exclusion criteria. Data analysis involved using SPSS version 16.0, with t-tests and chi-square tests used to assess the bivariate association of continuous and categorical variables. A multivariate logistic regression model was built to examine the association between Health Belief Model (HBM) tenets and COVID-19 vaccination intent. The Hosmer Lemeshow Goodness of Fit statistic was used to assess the model’s fit, with a p-value > 0.05 indicating a good fit.ResultsThe survey was disseminated to 1041 adults and the findings revealed that 82.5% of participants expressed a desire to receive the booster dose. Participants who intended to be vaccinated were generally older (46.4 ± 10.9), mostly female (53.3%), single (78.9%), had received a flu vaccine (45.8%). The findings indicated that the HBM items, including perception of COVID-19 disease, perceived benefits of COVID-19 vaccines, COVID-19 safety/cost concerns, preference of COVID-19 vaccine alternatives, and prosocial norms for COVID-19 vaccination, received higher scores among individuals intending to be vaccinated compared to vaccine-hesitant individuals, with statistical significance (p < 0.05). However, the “COVID-19 risk-reduction habits” item had a higher score but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.167).ConclusionFactors such as lack of trust in the effectiveness of the vaccine, trust in specific vaccine manufacturers, and concerns about side effects of COVID-19 vaccine are among the most important factors. These findings have implications for national vaccination policies, emphasizing the need for policymakers in the health sector to address these factors as vital considerations to ensure the continuity of vaccination as one of the most important strategies for controlling the pandemic.

Norm compliance in an uncertain world

In many situations, pro-social norms govern behavior. While the existence of a pro-social norm may be clear to someone entering the situation, it is often less clear precisely how much effort is required in order to comply with the norm. We investigate how people react to uncertainty about which effort level implements the prevailing norm using a modified version of the dictator game. Since the behavioral effects of pro-social norms are tightly linked to the degree of anonymity in a situation, we also vary the extent to which subjects’ behavior is observable. We find that when behavior is anonymous, uncertainty about which effort level implements the norm reduces aggregate norm compliance. However, when others can observe behavior, introducing a small degree of implementation uncertainty increases aggregate norm compliance. This implies that norm implementation uncertainty may actually facilitate interaction as long as behavior is observable and uncertainty is sufficiently small. We also document that reactions to norm implementation uncertainty are heterogeneous with one group of people reacting to implementation uncertainty by increasing compliance (over-compliers), while another group reacts by reducing compliance (under-compliers). The main effect of increased observability operates through the intensive margin of the under-compliers; they reduce their negative reaction to norm implementation uncertainty when their actions become more visible.

Persecuted Minorities and Defensive Cooperation: Contributions to Public Goods by Hindus and Muslims in Delhi

How does intergroup inequality, specifically minority experiences of persecution, affect contributions to local public goods? Based on an original survey experiment and qualitative research in slums in Delhi, we examine how Hindus and Muslims respond to social norms around promoting cooperation on community sanitation. Mainstream theories of development predict greater willingness to contribute to public goods in more homogeneous areas. In contrast to the “diversity-deficit hypothesis,” however, we find that social accountability mechanisms are more effective among Muslims, a group that routinely faces discrimination and violence in India. We propose that this reflects “defensive cooperation,” or a set of coping strategies developed by minorities to navigate a hostile sociopolitical environment. Our findings point to a new mechanism that helps to enforce prosocial norms and, hence, public goods provision in multiethnic contexts.

The Role of Positive Youth Development as a Mediator of the Relationship between Family Function and Lecturer-Student Relationship

The final project is a graduation requirement for students and the quality of the lecturer-student relationship significantly impacts its successful completion. Several studies have shown that the satisfaction of students in their relationship with lecturers is majorly influenced by family function, but there is limited data on this association.. Therefore, this study aims to examine the mediating role of positive youth development in the effect of family function on the lecturer-student relationship. A quantitative explanatory approach was used and the sample population consisted of 171 active students in the 8th to 14th semester of the undergraduate program at University X. The instruments used included the Positive Youth Development (PYD), family function, and lecturer-student relationship scales. The hypothesis was tested with the mediation analysis model 4 using the SPSS Process Hayes V.4 program. The results showed that PYD partially mediated the effect of family function on the lecturer-student relationship. Furthermore, the indirect effect of family function was only significant through the mediation of prosocial norm, belief in future, and recognition for positive behavior.

Associations between COVID-19 Death Exposure and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Vaccine Uptake.

The aim of the study was to determine the relation between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death exposure and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and vaccine uptake among Arkansans, controlling for sociodemographic factors. Data were collected from a telephone survey administered in Arkansas between July 12 and July 30, 2021 (N = 1500) via random digit dialing of telephone landlines and cellular telephones. Weighted data were used to estimate regressions. Controlling for sociodemographic variables, COVID-19 death exposure was not a significant predictor of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (P = 0.423) or COVID-19 vaccine uptake (P = 0.318). Younger individuals, those with lower levels of education, and those who live in rural counties were more likely to be COVID-19 vaccine hesitant. Older individuals, Hispanic/Latinx individuals, those who reported higher levels of education, and those who reported living in urban counties were more likely to have reported receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Many efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccines have focused on prosocial norms, including encouraging vaccination to protect the community from COVID-19 infection and death; however, COVID-19 death exposure was not related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy or uptake in the present study. Future research should examine whether prosocial messaging is effective in decreasing hesitancy or motivating some individuals to receive the vaccine among those who have been exposed to COVID-19 deaths.

University Students’ Perceived Self-control and Prosocial Norms for Beneficial Social Media Use

Although many studies have been conducted on social media abuse, socio-psychological determinants of positive social media usage are still underresearched, specifically concerning self-control and prosocial norms for university students. These two important antecedents of accountable behavior have not been thoroughly studied in developing countries. Therefore, the current study investigated university students’ perceptions of self-control and prosocial norms and determined whether they co-exist and are associated with intended behavior and desired beneficial usage. This study modified measurement items adopted from previous studies to fit the current context. A social media survey was conducted through Facebook Messenger among students from a public university in Bangladesh. 226 voluntary responses were recorded based on purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS 4. Descriptive statistics were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using the structural equation modeling technique, whereas the differential effects of gender and social media platforms were tested using ANOVA. The findings demonstrate that university students value self-control and prosocial norms as crucial determinants of positive social media behavior. These factors strongly correlate with intended self-control and prosocial behavior, and desired beneficial use. Additionally, gender and the type of social media platform used have no significant impact on these results. This study explored valuable insights into the role of self-control and prosocial norms in promoting beneficial social media use among university students, which may have significant implications for their personal and social well-being.

Unexpected, but consistent and pre-registered: Experimental evidence on interview language and Latino views of COVID-19

Much uncertainty remains about effective messaging to boost public support for COVID-19 mitigation efforts, especially among people of color. We investigate the relationship between interview language and expressed support for COVID-19 public health protocols among Latinos: America’s largest ethnic group. Prior work establishes that interview language shapes opinions by cognitively structuring which considerations people use to express attitudes. Yet other work suggests interview language shapes opinions by activating specific cultural norms associated with a tongue. We predicted that interviewing in Spanish (versus English) would boost support for COVID-19 protocols by activating pro-social norms known to be strongly associated with that language. We uncover null support for this prediction in a pre-registered experiment on bilingual Latino adults ( N = 1645). Instead, we find that Latinos assigned to interview in Spanish report weaker support for COVID-19 protocols, regardless of which cultural norms are primed. We discuss implications for COVID-19 attitudes in linguistically diverse polities.