Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty

We consider a signaling model where adults possess information about the dominant social norm. Children want to conform to whatever norm is dominant but, lacking accurate information, take the observed behavior of their parent as representative. We show that this causes a signaling distortion in adu...

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Main Authors: Adriani, Fabrizio, Sonderegger, Silvia
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38824/
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author Adriani, Fabrizio
Sonderegger, Silvia
author_facet Adriani, Fabrizio
Sonderegger, Silvia
author_sort Adriani, Fabrizio
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We consider a signaling model where adults possess information about the dominant social norm. Children want to conform to whatever norm is dominant but, lacking accurate information, take the observed behavior of their parent as representative. We show that this causes a signaling distortion in adult behavior, even in the absence of conflicts of interest. Parents adopt attitudes that encourage their children to behave in a socially safe way, i.e. the way that would be optimal under maximum uncertainty about the prevailing social norm. We discuss applications to sexual attitudes, collective reputation, and trust.
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spelling nottingham-388242020-05-04T18:15:58Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38824/ Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty Adriani, Fabrizio Sonderegger, Silvia We consider a signaling model where adults possess information about the dominant social norm. Children want to conform to whatever norm is dominant but, lacking accurate information, take the observed behavior of their parent as representative. We show that this causes a signaling distortion in adult behavior, even in the absence of conflicts of interest. Parents adopt attitudes that encourage their children to behave in a socially safe way, i.e. the way that would be optimal under maximum uncertainty about the prevailing social norm. We discuss applications to sexual attitudes, collective reputation, and trust. Wiley 2016-10-23 Article PeerReviewed Adriani, Fabrizio and Sonderegger, Silvia (2016) Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty. Scandinavian Journal of Economics . ISSN 1467-9442 (In Press) signaling Social Norms Cultural Transmission Complementarities Conformity http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjoe.12240/full doi:10.1111/sjoe.12240 doi:10.1111/sjoe.12240
spellingShingle signaling
Social Norms
Cultural Transmission
Complementarities
Conformity
Adriani, Fabrizio
Sonderegger, Silvia
Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
title Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
title_full Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
title_fullStr Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
title_full_unstemmed Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
title_short Signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
title_sort signaling about norms: socialization under strategic uncertainty
topic signaling
Social Norms
Cultural Transmission
Complementarities
Conformity
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38824/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38824/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38824/