Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-08-31T03:15:07Z
dc.abstract.enThe 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.
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii w Warszawie
dc.contributor.authorBoski, Paweł
dc.contributor.authorGrowiec, Katarzyna
dc.contributor.authorAndrighetto, Giulia
dc.contributor.authorSzekely, Aron
dc.contributor.authorGuido, Andrea
dc.contributor.authorGelfand, Michele
dc.contributor.authorAbernathy, Jered
dc.contributor.authorArikan, Gizem
dc.contributor.authorAycan, Zeynep
dc.contributor.authorBankar, Shweta
dc.contributor.authorBarrera, Davide
dc.contributor.authorBasnight-Brown, Dana
dc.contributor.authorBelaus, Anabel
dc.contributor.authorBerezina, Elizaveta
dc.contributor.authorBlumen, Sheyla
dc.contributor.authorBui, Huyen Thi Thu
dc.contributor.authorCárdenas, Juan Camilo
dc.contributor.authorČekrlija, Đorđe
dc.contributor.authorde Barra, Mícheál
dc.contributor.authorde Zoysa, Piyanjali
dc.contributor.authorDorrough, Angela
dc.contributor.authorEngelmann, Jan B.
dc.contributor.authorEuh, Hyun
dc.contributor.authorFiedler, Susann
dc.contributor.authorFoster-Gimbel, Olivia
dc.contributor.authorFreitas, Gonçalo
dc.contributor.authorFülöp, Marta
dc.contributor.authorGardarsdottir, Ragna B.
dc.contributor.authorGill, Colin Mathew Hugues D.
dc.contributor.authorGlöckner, Andreas
dc.contributor.authorGraf, Sylvie
dc.contributor.authorGrigoryan, Ani
dc.contributor.authorHashimoto, Hirofumi
dc.contributor.authorHopthrow, Tim
dc.contributor.authorHřebíčková, Martina
dc.contributor.authorImada, Hirotaka
dc.contributor.authorKamijo, Yoshio
dc.contributor.authorKapoor, Hansika
dc.contributor.authorKashima, Yoshihisa
dc.contributor.authorKhachatryan, Narine
dc.contributor.authorKharchenko, Natalia
dc.contributor.authorLeón, Diana
dc.contributor.authorLeslie, Lisa M.
dc.contributor.authorLi, Yang
dc.contributor.authorLiik, Kadi
dc.contributor.authorLiuzza, Marco Tullio
dc.contributor.authorMaitner, Angela T.
dc.contributor.authorMamidi, Pavan
dc.contributor.authorMcArdle, Michele
dc.contributor.authorMedhioub, Imed
dc.contributor.authorMendes Teixeira, Maria Luisa
dc.contributor.authorMentser, Sari
dc.contributor.authorMorales, Francisco
dc.contributor.authorNarayanan, Jayanth
dc.contributor.authorNitta, Kohei
dc.contributor.authorNussinson, Ravit
dc.contributor.authorOnyedire, Nneoma G.
dc.contributor.authorOnyishi, Ike E.
dc.contributor.authorOsin, Evgeny
dc.contributor.authorÖzden, Seniha
dc.contributor.authorPanagiotopoulou, Penny
dc.contributor.authorPereverziev, Oleksandr
dc.contributor.authorPerez-Floriano, Lorena R.
dc.contributor.authorPirttilä-Backman, Anna-Maija
dc.contributor.authorPogosyan, Marianna
dc.contributor.authorRaver, Jana
dc.contributor.authorReyna, Cecilia
dc.contributor.authorRodrigues, Ricardo Borges
dc.contributor.authorRomanò, Sara
dc.contributor.authorRomero, Pedro P.
dc.contributor.authorSakki, Inari
dc.contributor.authorSánchez, Angel
dc.contributor.authorSherbaji, Sara
dc.contributor.authorSimpson, Brent
dc.contributor.authorSpadoni, Lorenzo
dc.contributor.authorStamkou, Eftychia
dc.contributor.authorTravaglino, Giovanni A.
dc.contributor.authorVan Lange, Paul A. M.
dc.contributor.authorWinata, Fiona Fira
dc.contributor.authorZein, Rizqy Amelia
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Qing-peng
dc.contributor.authorEriksson, Kimmo
dc.date.access2024
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-23T13:33:10Z
dc.date.available2024-02-23T13:33:10Z
dc.date.created2024-02-19
dc.date.issued2024-02-16
dc.description.abstract<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>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.</jats:p>
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.issue1
dc.description.physical1-11
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume15
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41467-024-44999-5
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/492
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44999-5
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.swps.sciencecloudnosend
dc.titleChanges in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries
dc.title.journalNature Communications
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle