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5 - Informational Cascades and Unpopular Norms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Cristina Bicchieri
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Summary

Introduction

The discussion of the effects of communication in social dilemmas points to the emergence of a shared understanding of the situation among participants, and their convergence to a common script. Group communication, when successful, generates common beliefs and expectations, which in turn make possible coordinated action. I have previously stressed how the norms that people focus on influence their behavior. It is also important to study how norms form in the first place. This question is tantamount to asking how certain beliefs originate and how we come to believe that a behavioral regularity exists that applies to certain types of situations Bettenhausen and Murnighan (1985, 1991) were the first to study experimentally norm formation in small groups. In their experiments on the allocation of research money among coalitions, they report that groups rapidly formed norms about resource sharing, but each group displayed a unique character and developed unique norms. Their research provides evidence that norm formation is a step-by-step process. In a newly formed group, all members will initially anchor the current situation to what they perceive are previously experienced situations. Each group member will have a sense of which behavioral scripts may be appropriate to the new situation because they resemble behaviors adopted in similar social contexts. As they interact, group members trade scripts, and, through discussion, they come to form a shared perspective of what the ‘appropriate behavior’ is.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Grammar of Society
The Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms
, pp. 176 - 213
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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