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 Cardenas, Đorđe Čekrlija, Mícheál Barra, Piyanjali Zoysa, Angela Dorrough, Jan 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 Romero, Inari Sakki, Angel Sánchez, Sara Sherbaji, Brent Simpson, Lorenzo Spadoni, Eftychia Stamkou, Giovanni A. Travaglino, Paul A. M. Lange, Fiona Fira Winata, Rizqy Amelia Zein, Qing-peng Zhang and Kimmo Eriksson
Additional contact information
Giulia Andrighetto: National Research Council of Italy
Aron Szekely: National Research Council of Italy
Michele Gelfand: Stanford University
Jered Abernathy: University of South Carolina
Gizem Arikan: Trinity College Dublin
Zeynep Aycan: Koç University
Shweta Bankar: Ashoka University
Davide Barrera: Collegio Carlo Alberto
Dana Basnight-Brown: United States International University – Africa
Anabel Belaus: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); CABA
Elizaveta Berezina: Sunway University
Sheyla Blumen: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Paweł Boski: SWPS University
Huyen Thi Thu Bui: Hanoi National University of Education
Đorđe Čekrlija: University of Banja Luka
Mícheál Barra: Brunel University London
Piyanjali Zoysa: University of Colombo
Angela Dorrough: University of Cologne
Hyun Euh: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Susann Fiedler: Vienna University of Economics and Business
Olivia Foster-Gimbel: New York University
Gonçalo Freitas: Universidade de Lisboa
Marta Fülöp: Research Centre of Natural Sciences
Ragna B. Gardarsdottir: University of Iceland
Colin Mathew Hugues D. Gill: Sunway University
Andreas Glöckner: University of Cologne
Sylvie Graf: Czech Academy of Sciences
Ani Grigoryan: Yerevan State University
Katarzyna Growiec: SWPS University
Hirofumi Hashimoto: Osaka Metropolitan University
Tim Hopthrow: University of Kent
Martina Hřebíčková: Czech Academy of Sciences
Hirotaka Imada: University of London
Yoshio Kamijo: Waseda University
Hansika Kapoor: Monk Prayogshala
Yoshihisa Kashima: The University of Melbourne
Narine Khachatryan: Yerevan State University
Natalia Kharchenko: Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
Diana León: DeJusticia
Lisa M. Leslie: New York University
Yang Li: Nagoya University
Kadi Liik: Tallinn University
Marco Tullio Liuzza: “Magna Græcia” University of Catanzaro
Angela T. Maitner: American University of Sharjah
Pavan Mamidi: Ashoka University
Michele McArdle: Trinity College Dublin
Imed Medhioub: Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University
Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira: Presbyterian Mackenzie University
Sari Mentser: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jayanth Narayanan: Northeastern University
Kohei Nitta: Ritsumeikan University
Ravit Nussinson: The Open University of Israel
Nneoma G. Onyedire: University of Nigeria
Ike E. Onyishi: University of Nigeria
Evgeny Osin: HSE University
Seniha Özden: Koç University
Penny Panagiotopoulou: University of Patras
Oleksandr Pereverziev: POLLSTER
Lorena R. Perez-Floriano: Universidad Diego Portales
Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman: University of Helsinki
Marianna Pogosyan: University of Amsterdam
Jana Raver: Queen’s University at Kingston
Cecilia Reyna: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); CABA
Ricardo Borges Rodrigues: Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)
Sara Romanò: University of Turin
Inari Sakki: University of Helsinki
Angel Sánchez: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Sara Sherbaji: American University of Sharjah
Brent Simpson: University of South Carolina
Lorenzo Spadoni: University of Cassino and Southern Lazio
Eftychia Stamkou: University of Amsterdam
Giovanni A. Travaglino: University of London
Paul A. M. Lange: Vrije Universiteit
Fiona Fira Winata: Universitas Airlangga
Rizqy Amelia Zein: Universitas Airlangga
Qing-peng Zhang: Guangzhou University
Kimmo Eriksson: Institute for Futures Studies

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 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.

Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44999-5

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