Narratives, Social Norms and Immoral Behaviour - Despoina Alempaki
People’s moral actions are systematically influenced by different exculpatory arguments. These arguments, or narratives, can shape societal norms and behaviours, but their influence has been relatively underexplored in empirical studies. This interdisciplinary research aims to fill this gap by examining both theoretically and experimentally the effect of impact and social norms on the influence of narratives about dishonest behaviour, drawing on literature from economics, psychology, and linguistics. We have already conducted three experimental studies. The current project is a follow-up to our previous studies to test directly the key model prediction – that narrative effectiveness depends critically on normative consensus - in a stricter environment.
The proposal involved a 3 (social information) X 2 (social appropriateness of deception) between-subject design. We also collected data for two additional treatments with funds from additional sources.
We have already presented the results of this work three times in September 2025: at the 14th BEEN in Cagliari (Italy), and two experimental workshops in Nottingham (UK) and in Ohlstadt (Germany). More presentations are due in the next months. We are now working on producing a working paper by the end of the year. Our goal is to produce one major academic paper that will have a significant impact in the scientific community and will create talking points around policy and applications.