Nature Communications (Feb 2024)
Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries
- Giulia Andrighetto,
- Aron Szekely,
- Andrea Guido,
- Michele Gelfand,
- Jered Abernathy,
- Gizem Arikan,
- Zeynep Aycan,
- Shweta Bankar,
- Davide Barrera,
- Dana Basnight-Brown,
- Anabel Belaus,
- Elizaveta Berezina,
- Sheyla Blumen,
- Paweł Boski,
- Huyen Thi Thu Bui,
- Juan Camilo Cárdenas,
- Đorđe Čekrlija,
- Mícheál de Barra,
- Piyanjali de Zoysa,
- Angela Dorrough,
- Jan B. Engelmann,
- Hyun Euh,
- Susann Fiedler,
- Olivia Foster-Gimbel,
- Gonçalo Freitas,
- Marta Fülöp,
- Ragna B. Gardarsdottir,
- Colin Mathew Hugues D. Gill,
- Andreas Glöckner,
- Sylvie Graf,
- Ani Grigoryan,
- Katarzyna Growiec,
- Hirofumi Hashimoto,
- Tim Hopthrow,
- Martina Hřebíčková,
- Hirotaka Imada,
- Yoshio Kamijo,
- Hansika Kapoor,
- Yoshihisa Kashima,
- Narine Khachatryan,
- Natalia Kharchenko,
- Diana León,
- Lisa M. Leslie,
- Yang Li,
- Kadi Liik,
- Marco Tullio Liuzza,
- Angela T. Maitner,
- Pavan Mamidi,
- Michele McArdle,
- Imed Medhioub,
- Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira,
- Sari Mentser,
- Francisco Morales,
- Jayanth Narayanan,
- Kohei Nitta,
- Ravit Nussinson,
- Nneoma G. Onyedire,
- Ike E. Onyishi,
- Evgeny Osin,
- Seniha Özden,
- Penny Panagiotopoulou,
- Oleksandr Pereverziev,
- Lorena R. Perez-Floriano,
- Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman,
- Marianna Pogosyan,
- Jana Raver,
- Cecilia Reyna,
- Ricardo Borges Rodrigues,
- Sara Romanò,
- Pedro P. Romero,
- Inari Sakki,
- Angel Sánchez,
- Sara Sherbaji,
- Brent Simpson,
- Lorenzo Spadoni,
- Eftychia Stamkou,
- Giovanni A. Travaglino,
- Paul A. M. Van Lange,
- Fiona Fira Winata,
- Rizqy Amelia Zein,
- Qing-peng Zhang,
- Kimmo Eriksson
Affiliations
- Giulia Andrighetto
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy
- Aron Szekely
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy
- Andrea Guido
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy
- Michele Gelfand
- Graduate School of Business and Department of Psychology, Stanford University
- Jered Abernathy
- Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina
- Gizem Arikan
- Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin
- Zeynep Aycan
- Department of Psychology, Koç University
- Shweta Bankar
- Ashoka University
- Davide Barrera
- Collegio Carlo Alberto
- Dana Basnight-Brown
- United States International University – Africa
- Anabel Belaus
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); CABA
- Elizaveta Berezina
- Sunway University
- Sheyla Blumen
- Departamento de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
- Paweł Boski
- SWPS University
- Huyen Thi Thu Bui
- Hanoi National University of Education
- Juan Camilo Cárdenas
- Universidad de los Andes
- Đorđe Čekrlija
- Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka
- Mícheál de Barra
- Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London
- Piyanjali de Zoysa
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
- Angela Dorrough
- Department of Psychology, University of Cologne
- Jan B. Engelmann
- Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making (CREED), Amsterdam School of Economics, University of Amsterdam
- Hyun Euh
- Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Susann Fiedler
- Vienna University of Economics and Business
- Olivia Foster-Gimbel
- Stern School of Business, New York University
- Gonçalo Freitas
- Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa
- Marta Fülöp
- HUN-REN Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre of Natural Sciences
- Ragna B. Gardarsdottir
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Iceland
- Colin Mathew Hugues D. Gill
- Sunway University
- Andreas Glöckner
- Department of Psychology, University of Cologne
- Sylvie Graf
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences
- Ani Grigoryan
- Department of Personality Psychology, Yerevan State University
- Katarzyna Growiec
- SWPS University
- Hirofumi Hashimoto
- Osaka Metropolitan University
- Tim Hopthrow
- School of Psychology, University of Kent
- Martina Hřebíčková
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences
- Hirotaka Imada
- Royal Holloway, University of London
- Yoshio Kamijo
- Waseda University
- Hansika Kapoor
- Department of Psychology, Monk Prayogshala
- Yoshihisa Kashima
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
- Narine Khachatryan
- Department of Personality Psychology, Yerevan State University
- Natalia Kharchenko
- Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
- Diana León
- DeJusticia
- Lisa M. Leslie
- Stern School of Business, New York University
- Yang Li
- Nagoya University
- Kadi Liik
- School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University
- Marco Tullio Liuzza
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, “Magna Græcia” University of Catanzaro
- Angela T. Maitner
- Department of Psychology, American University of Sharjah
- Pavan Mamidi
- Ashoka University
- Michele McArdle
- Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin
- Imed Medhioub
- Department of Finance and Investment, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University
- Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira
- Presbyterian Mackenzie University
- Sari Mentser
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Francisco Morales
- Universidad de los Andes
- Jayanth Narayanan
- Northeastern University
- Kohei Nitta
- Ritsumeikan University
- Ravit Nussinson
- Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel
- Nneoma G. Onyedire
- Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria
- Ike E. Onyishi
- Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria
- Evgeny Osin
- HSE University
- Seniha Özden
- Department of Psychology, Koç University
- Penny Panagiotopoulou
- Department of Education and Social Work, University of Patras
- Oleksandr Pereverziev
- POLLSTER
- Lorena R. Perez-Floriano
- Universidad Diego Portales
- Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Psychology, University of Helsinki
- Marianna Pogosyan
- Leadership and Management, Amsterdam Business School (ABS), University of Amsterdam
- Jana Raver
- Queen’s University at Kingston
- Cecilia Reyna
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); CABA
- Ricardo Borges Rodrigues
- Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)
- Sara Romanò
- Department of Culture, Politics, and Society, University of Turin
- Pedro P. Romero
- School of Economics, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
- Inari Sakki
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Psychology, University of Helsinki
- Angel Sánchez
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- Sara Sherbaji
- Department of Psychology, American University of Sharjah
- Brent Simpson
- Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina
- Lorenzo Spadoni
- Department of Economics and Law, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio
- Eftychia Stamkou
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
- Giovanni A. Travaglino
- Royal Holloway, University of London
- Paul A. M. Van Lange
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit
- Fiona Fira Winata
- Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga
- Rizqy Amelia Zein
- Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga
- Qing-peng Zhang
- Guangzhou University
- Kimmo Eriksson
- Institute for Futures Studies
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44999-5
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 15,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 11
Abstract
Abstract The emergence of COVID-19 dramatically changed social behavior across societies and contexts. Here we study whether social norms also changed. Specifically, we study this question for cultural tightness (the degree to which societies generally have strong norms), specific social norms (e.g. stealing, hand washing), and norms about enforcement, using survey data from 30,431 respondents in 43 countries recorded before and in the early stages following the emergence of COVID-19. Using variation in disease intensity, we shed light on the mechanisms predicting changes in social norm measures. We find evidence that, after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing norms increased while tightness and punishing frequency slightly decreased but observe no evidence for a robust change in most other norms. Thus, at least in the short term, our findings suggest that cultures are largely stable to pandemic threats except in those norms, hand washing in this case, that are perceived to be directly relevant to dealing with the collective threat.
