Social Norm Deviation as a Process Underlying the Induced-Hypocrisy Effect: Findings from a Five-Study Experimental Program

Induced-hypocrisy, a cognitive dissonance paradigm, effectively promotes prosocial behaviors through a two-step procedure. First, a person advocates for a prosocial behavior and then recalls their past failures to comply with it, which prompts the person to adopt the behavior. Initially, the explanation for such hypocrisy effect focused on restoring a positive self-image threatened by past transgressions. A recent theoretical explanation, suggest that behavioral change results from the perceived discrepancy between social norms and transgressive behavior. Our five-study experimental program (Total N = 774) was designed to test whether the process of social norm deviation underlies the hypocrisy effect. Results showed the influence of social norms strength on the hypocrisy effect (Studies 1, 2, 3) and the mediating effect of perceived social norm deviation in increasing prosocial behaviors consecutive to the hypocrisy procedure (Studies 4a and 4b). An integrative analysis (N = 602) of Studies 1, 2 and 4a, as well as two additional datasets, confirmed the influence of social norms in producing the hypocrisy effect. Taken together, these results strongly support social norm deviation as a key process underlying the hypocrisy effect, in that participants with stronger social normative beliefs exhibit a more pronounced hypocrisy effect due to a greater perceived deviation from social norms. These experimental findings constitute a significant contribution to understanding and improving the hypocrisy effect. They are discussed from both theoretical and practical perspectives, questioning the implication of the self and the affiliation motivation in this social norm deviation process and emphasizing the relevance of reinforcing social norms in contexts where transgressions are less salient, such as in discrimination prevention.