Time lag and communication in changing unpopular norms

GËRXHANI, Klarita; BRUGGEMAN, Jeroen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124715

Time lag and communication in changing unpopular norms

dc.contributor.author	GËRXHANI, Klarita
dc.contributor.author	BRUGGEMAN, Jeroen
dc.date.accessioned	2015-11-09T14:53:57Z
dc.date.available	2015-11-09T14:53:57Z
dc.date.issued	2015
dc.description	Published: April 16, 2015	en
dc.description.abstract	Humans often coordinate their social lives through norms. When a large majority of people are dissatisfied with an existing norm, it seems obvious that they will change it. Often, however, this does not occur. We investigate how a time lag between individual support of a norm change and the change itself hinders such change, related to the critical mass of supporters needed to effectuate the change, and the (im)possibility of communicating about it. To isolate these factors, we utilize a laboratory experiment. As predicted, we find unambiguous effects of time lag on precluding norm change; a higher threshold for a critical mass does so as well. Communication facilitates choosing superior norms but it does not necessarily lead to norm change when the uncertainty on whether there will be a norm change in the future is high. Communication seems to help coordination on actions at the present but not the future. Hence, the uncertainty driven by time lag makes individuals choose the status quo, here the unpopular norm.	en
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	PLoS ONE, 2015, Vol. 10, e0124715	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1371/journal.pone.0124715
dc.identifier.issn	1932-6203
dc.identifier.issn	1932-6203
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1814/37705
dc.identifier.volume	10	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.orcid.putcode	1814/79195:56353237
dc.relation.ispartof	PLoS ONE	en
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess	en
dc.title	Time lag and communication in changing unpopular norms	en
dc.type	Article	en
dspace.entity.type	Publication
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-9056-4920
person.identifier.other	38769
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relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	209e197a-a331-4a1a-ae41-45a174dcbcc4