The Focusing and Informaitonal Effects of Norms on Pro-Social Behavior

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experiment examining the effect of 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 when an individual observes more others 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 or no 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 present in previous experiments and thus demonstrates a direct effect of norms on behavior.

Keywords: Individual behavior in the lab, Social norms, Fairness

JEL Classification: C91, D63, D64