Title: When descriptive norms backfire: attitudes induce undesirable consequences during disaster preparation
Abstract: Although cumulative evidence shows that descriptive norms desirably promote social behavior, the adverse effects of descriptive norms have not been thoroughly investigated. We hypothesized that attitudes would modulate the effects of descriptive norms and nullify their positive influence. We conducted two pre-registered experiments about preparation behaviors for natural disasters. In these experiments, the proportion of other people who performed the designated behaviors was presented as the descriptive norms manipulation. We assumed that descriptive norms inevitably informed that some people did not prepare. A backfire was expected to occur when participants held negative attitudes and unintendedly focused on the minority to confirm their negative attitudes toward disaster preparation. In Study 1 (N = 262), the only promotive effect of descriptive norms was obtained among U.S. participants. By contrast, in Study 2 (N = 329), when replicated among Japanese participants, participants’ attitudes moderated the effects of descriptive norms. The direction of the moderation effect was in line with our prediction: descriptive norms suppressed the desirable behavior when participants held negative attitudes. Descriptive norms backfired by attitudes. We combined these results in meta-analyses and discussed unified theoretical implications. Practical suggestions were also discussed.