Emergence of Social Norms

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Diekmann
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465644158

The main goal of the project is to investigate hypotheses about the emergence and erosion of social norms. While questions about compliance with social norms have been the subject of a great deal of theoretical and empirical work, much less attention has been paid to the conditions of the emergence of social norms in systematic empirical studies. Answers to questions about the emergence and decay of norms are important not only for basic research. Problems facing our society in the present and the future, such as climate change and pandemics in particular, cannot be solved by government action alone. Social norms, including new norms such as those that often emerge in crisis situations, significantly influence how people behave, whether they are able to resolve conflicts, share resources, and cooperate with each other. Insights into the conditions under which norms emerge and the acceptance of norms are important for applications in areas such as health, education, the environment, and development policy. Often, traditional norms hinder measures of e.g. in the areas of education, health and development policy. More precise knowledge of the emergence, erosion, and operation of social norms can help to better resolve conflicts over norms and help measures to be more successful. Three experiments are planned in the Decision Science Lab and an analysis of survey data on the long-term evolution of social norms. Using the terminology of Ullman-Margalit (1977), the three experiments will address the emergence, stability, and change of coordination, cooperation, and distributional norms. However, an experiment will not focus on one type of norm at a time. Rather, the point is precisely to study the dynamics of the interplay of different norms in sequential decisions. With the advances in measuring different dimensions of social norms (Bicchieri 2017) and the experience with controlled experiments, research today has much improved possibilities, which will also be used in the present project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants