Dynamic norms as a tool for social change: How dynamic norms can revert controversial political decision-making related to Brexit

IF 3.8 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

British Journal of Social Psychology Pub Date : 2026-03-08 DOI:10.1111/bjso.70057

Ertugrul Gazi Eraslan, Huseyin Cakal

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Research shows that perceiving norms relevant to a collective phenomenon can motivate behaviour. This research examined whether dynamic social norms could counteract a collective disadvantage, that is, Brexit. We tested the effects of dynamic norm messages (emphasizing norms are changing over time) versus static norm messages (simply stating the norm) and a no-norm control condition on collective action intentions to stop Brexit among Remainers and Brexiteers across one pilot and two main experiments (Pilot 1 N = 150, Main Experiment 1 N = 750, Main Experiment 2 = 600) with British adults. Results showed that dynamic norms increased violent collective action intentions among Remainers and both violent and peaceful collective action intentions among Brexiteers compared with static norm and no-norm control conditions. Increased pre-conformity to future norms, more positive outgroup attitudes towards European immigrants and reduced outgroup threat perceptions from European immigrants mediated these effects. Findings suggest dynamic norms may reverse misinformation's detrimental impact by motivating actions counter to individuals' original stance. Highlighting norms are changing over time rather than static can be an effective tool for social change even in highly polarizing contexts.

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动态规范作为社会变革的工具：动态规范如何恢复与英国脱欧有关的有争议的政治决策。

研究表明，感知与集体现象相关的规范可以激发行为。这项研究考察了动态的社会规范是否可以抵消集体劣势，即英国脱欧。我们通过一个试点和两个主要实验（试点1 N = 150，主要实验1 N = 750，主要实验2 = 600）测试了动态规范信息（强调规范随着时间的推移而变化）与静态规范信息（简单地陈述规范）和非规范控制条件对留欧派和脱欧派阻止英国退欧的集体行动意愿的影响。结果表明，与静态规范和非规范控制条件相比，动态规范增加了留欧派的暴力集体行动意图，同时也增加了脱欧派的暴力与和平集体行动意图。增加对未来规范的预遵从，对欧洲移民更积极的外群体态度和减少来自欧洲移民的外群体威胁感知介导了这些影响。研究结果表明，动态规范可以通过激励与个人原始立场相反的行为来扭转错误信息的有害影响。即使在高度两极分化的情况下，强调规范是随着时间而变化的，而不是一成不变的，这可能是社会变革的有效工具。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

British Journal of Social Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

9.50

自引率

7.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： The British Journal of Social Psychology publishes work from scholars based in all parts of the world, and manuscripts that present data on a wide range of populations inside and outside the UK. It publishes original papers in all areas of social psychology including: • social cognition • attitudes • group processes • social influence • intergroup relations • self and identity • nonverbal communication • social psychological aspects of personality, affect and emotion • language and discourse Submissions addressing these topics from a variety of approaches and methods, both quantitative and qualitative are welcomed. We publish papers of the following kinds: • empirical papers that address theoretical issues; • theoretical papers, including analyses of existing social psychological theories and presentations of theoretical innovations, extensions, or integrations; • review papers that provide an evaluation of work within a given area of social psychology and that present proposals for further research in that area; • methodological papers concerning issues that are particularly relevant to a wide range of social psychologists; • an invited agenda article as the first article in the first part of every volume. The editorial team aims to handle papers as efficiently as possible. In 2016, papers were triaged within less than a week, and the average turnaround time from receipt of the manuscript to first decision sent back to the authors was 47 days.