The Cognition of Social Norms: A Process Theory Investigation of Social Norm Perceptions and Interventions

Abstract

Accurate understanding of the social world is vital for addressing complex societal challenges. As humans navigate information-rich environments, they form perceptions about social norms that critically influence collective action on existential threats like climate change and democratic erosion. These perceptions often contain systematic distortions: underestimating public support for climate policies and overestimating endorsement of antidemocratic actions. While previous research has documented these misperceptions and their consequences, my work investigates their underlying cognitive mechanisms. In the first chapter, I present a meta-analysis of query theory, finding support for its central claims that stimulus framing affects the order in which people evaluate options which, in turn, affects the balance of support and leads to choice anomalies. In the second chapter, I extend query theory to social norm perception, developing a memory-retrieval theory. Norm perceptions are, in part, constructed by the order and content of the memory-querying process. The third chapter investigates how information environments, particularly media coverage, shape perceptions of democratic norms in the United States. I use large-language models to identify and quantify the amount of social norm information communicated through cable news. Exposure to norm information in one’s media diet is associated with attitudes and partisan norm perceptions about democracy. The fourth chapter examines the cognitive mechanisms through which social norm information influences policy support across energy technology domains. Query order and content are affected by social norm information, impacting policy support. This finding holds for participants who are not skeptical of the policy or norm information. This multi-pronged investigation advances our understanding of how social perceptions are constructed and affect complex societal transitions, addressing critical challenges that require coordinated collective action based on accurate perceptions of the normative landscape.