Shocks and Norm Adherence

Abstract: Social norms, the shared behavioral standards of one's community, regulate behavior in many contexts and are important determinants of economic development. While all societies have social norms, people in some countries value adherence to the norms more than in others. According to cultural evolutionary theory, the key determinant for why some societies emphasize norm adherence more than others is the experience of negative collective shocks. Evolutionary selection is thought to favor psychological traits that promote cooperation within groups in response to collective negative shocks, including stronger adherence to existing social norms. Based on a stylized model, I test this hypothesis by linking occurrences of natural disasters and significant economic downturns to large-scale survey data from around the world. I find that (i) individuals who have experienced collective negative shocks place more importance in norm adherence today and (ii) individuals who have experienced higher economic growth rates value norm adherence less.