Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.

Kimmo Eriksson, Pontus Strimling, Michele Gelfand, Junhui Wu, Jered Abernathy, Charity S Akotia, Alisher Aldashev, Per A Andersson, Giulia Andrighetto, Adote Anum, Gizem Arikan, Zeynep Aycan, Fatemeh Bagherian, Davide Barrera, Dana Basnight-Brown, Birzhan Batkeyev, Anabel Belaus, Elizaveta Berezina, Marie Björnstjerna, Sheyla Blumen, Paweł Boski, Fouad Bou Zeineddine, Inna Bovina, Bui Thi Thu Huyen, Juan-Camilo Cardenas, Đorđe Čekrlija, Hoon-Seok Choi, Carlos C Contreras-Ibáñez, Rui Costa-Lopes, Mícheál de Barra, Piyanjali de Zoysa, Angela Dorrough, Nikolay Dvoryanchikov, Anja Eller, Jan B Engelmann, Hyun Euh, Xia Fang, Susann Fiedler, Olivia A Foster-Gimbel, Márta Fülöp, Ragna B Gardarsdottir, C M Hew D Gill, Andreas Glöckner, Sylvie Graf, Ani Grigoryan, Vladimir Gritskov, Katarzyna Growiec, Peter Halama, Andree Hartanto, Tim Hopthrow, Martina Hřebíčková, Dzintra Iliško, Hirotaka Imada, Hansika Kapoor, Kerry Kawakami, Narine Khachatryan, Natalia Kharchenko, Ninetta Khoury, Toko Kiyonari, Michal Kohút, Lê Thuỳ Linh, Lisa M Leslie, Yang Li, Norman P Li, Zhuo Li, Kadi Liik, Angela T Maitner, Bernardo Manhique, Harry Manley, Imed Medhioub, Sari Mentser, Linda Mohammed, Pegah Nejat, Orlando Nipassa, Ravit Nussinson, Nneoma G Onyedire, Ike E Onyishi, Seniha Özden, Penny Panagiotopoulou, Lorena R Perez-Floriano, Minna S Persson, Mpho Pheko, Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman, Marianna Pogosyan, Jana Raver, Cecilia Reyna, Ricardo Borges Rodrigues, Sara Romanò, Pedro P Romero, Inari Sakki, Alvaro San Martin, Sara Sherbaji, Hiroshi Shimizu, Brent Simpson, Erna Szabo, Kosuke Takemura, Hassan Tieffi, Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira, Napoj Thanomkul, Habib Tiliouine, Giovanni A Travaglino, Yannis Tsirbas, Richard Wan, Sita Widodo, Rizqy Zein, Qing-peng Zhang, Lina Zirganou-Kazolea, Paul A M Van Lange