Numerous psychological biases shape how we respond to observing others conforming to or diverging from social norms. Depending on our social networks, we may be more influenced by societal majorities, such as the widespread consumption of meat or frequent air travel, or by the sustainable lifestyles of our closest friends. The evolution of social norms is shaped by personal preferences, values, beliefs, and the structure of social networks. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for promoting a cultural shift towards sustainability, yet our grasp of how normative transformations occur remains limited. In this paper, we simulate an agent-based model in which agents choose between maintaining the status quo or adopting an alternative, engaging in a coordination game. Our model illustrates that interventions aimed at changing individual preferences may fail if the population is structured in polarised networks, where agents with similar preferences cluster together and primarily interact within their groups. These echo chambers limit the effectiveness of preference-based interventions. However, we show that a subsequent intervention that increases the salience of behaviours from agents with dissimilar preferences can successfully tip the population from a status quo equilibrium to an alternative norm equilibrium. This paper outlines the challenges policymakers face in designing interventions for catalysing positive social norm changes. We argue for a reevaluation of current methodologies for modelling and empirically investigating norm change. Our primary recommendation for future research is a more comprehensive incorporation of the myriad ways individuals respond to social information and network formation.

中文翻译：

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整合社会学习和网络形成，促进社会走向可持续的未来


许多心理偏见决定了我们对观察他人遵守或背离社会规范的反应。根据我们的社交网络，我们可能更多地受到社会多数群体的影响，例如肉类的广泛消费或频繁的航空旅行，或者我们最亲密的朋友的可持续生活方式。社会规范的演变是由个人偏好、价值观、信仰和社交网络结构决定的。了解这些动态对于促进文化向可持续发展的转变至关重要，但我们对规范转变如何发生的了解仍然有限。在本文中，我们模拟了一个基于代理的模型，其中代理在维持现状或采用替代方案（参与协调博弈）之间进行选择。我们的模型表明，如果人口是在两极分化的网络中构建的，那么旨在改变个人偏好的干预措施可能会失败，其中具有相似偏好的代理人聚集在一起并主要在其群体内进行互动。这些回声室限制了基于偏好的干预措施的有效性。然而，我们表明，随后的干预措施可以增加具有不同偏好的代理人行为的显着性，可以成功地将群体从现状均衡转向替代规范均衡。本文概述了政策制定者在设计干预措施以促进积极的社会规范变化时面临的挑战。我们主张重新评估当前用于建模和实证研究规范变化的方法。我们对未来研究的主要建议是更全面地结合个人对社交信息和网络形成的多种反应方式。