Norms and Concealment

Social norms promote cooperation and prosocial behavior in groups, and one way in which norms support social order is by regulating concealment. However, systematic evidence on whether a norm of concealment affects the frequency of concealment and the content of what people conceal remains scarce. Using data from two surveys of U.S. adults, we find that the norm of concealment is a moral norm that correlates with counts of concealment, the proportion of behaviors concealed, and membership in unique subgroups of concealers. We also find that the norm of concealment is relatively weak in terms of its character: it is bipolar, conditional, and of moderate intensity, with respondents disagreeing about the nature of the norm. Our findings suggest that individuals who follow a moral norm against concealment withhold less information than others.