Norms About Norm Violations
DATA COLLECTION
2019 - 2020
NO. OF SOCIETIES
57
CONTINENTS
6
RESPONDENTS
22,863
Norms About Norm Violation
Norms about norms, or “metanorms”, are about how to respond to norm violations. In the International Study of Metanorms (ISMN), more than 100 researchers collaborated on collecting data on norms and metanorms in 57 societies from all across the world
In the Primary Publication from this study (“Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies”), we find that there is a pattern to how societies respond to norm violations: in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.
Data from the International Study of Metanorms have also been used to examine how societies vary in their hygiene norms and their cultural tightness, as well as in measures of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Links to publications and open datasets are provided.
Publications and media
Andersson, P.A., Vartanova, I., Västfjäll, D. et al (2024). Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies. Scientific Reports, 14, 5591. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55815-x
Eriksson, K., Dickins, T. E., & Strimling, P. (2022). Global sex differences in hygiene norms and their relation to sex equality. PLOS Global Public Health, 2(6), e0000591.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000591
[Data: osf.io/d4q38/]Eriksson, K., Dickins, T. E., & Strimling, P. (2021). Hygiene Norms Across 56 Nations are Predicted by Self-Control Values and Disease Threat. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2, 100013.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100013Eriksson, K., Strimling, P., Gelfand, M., Wu, J., Abernathy, J., Akotia, C. S., ... & Van Lange, P. A. (2021). Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-11.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21602-9[Preregistration: osf.io/qg6xy Data: osf.io/pm5kc]
Gerlach, P., & Eriksson, K. (2021). Measuring cultural dimensions: External validity and internal consistency of Hofstede's VSM 2013 Scales. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 662604.
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.662604[Data: osf.io/6tgnc]