The role of norm compliance in prosociality across adulthood and cultures

Social norms, defined as behavioral prescriptions or proscriptions within a group, are a fundamental component of human societies. According to norm compliance theory, individuals adopt behaviors that align with group norms to receive positive sanctions for conformity and to avoid negative sanctions for violations. Applied to prosociality, we propose that both age-related and cultural norms play a crucial role in understanding the extent and forms of prosocial behaviors people engage in. Prosocial behavior is often defined as actions that benefit others at a cost to the actor.

With increasing age, adults tend to become more adherent to norms, which may contribute to the higher levels of prosocial engagement observed in older adults across various cultures. Age-related expectations typically portray older adults as warm and oriented toward others' well-being, making an increase in prosocial behavior in old age likely to align with social norms about warmth and generosity in older adults. Due to increased norm adherence, older adults are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors. This effect may be particularly pronounced in tight cultures, which are characterized by strong norms and low tolerance for norm violations, as opposed to loose cultures, where norms are weaker and tolerance for norm violations is higher. However, few studies have explored the relationship between age-related and cultural norms in prosociality, and addressing this gap is the aim of the proposed confirmatory study.

More specifically, we will test the hypothesis that there is a stronger association between cultural and age-related norms regarding prosociality among older adults compared to younger adults. We also expect that this effect is stronger in tight cultures compared to loose cultures. Given the limitations of using correlational data to test mediations, we will additionally assess norm compliance and test for age-related as well as cultural differences. We expect higher norm compliance among older adults compared to younger adults and in tight cultures compared to loose cultures.

To test these hypotheses, we will recruit participants from diverse age groups (younger adults: 20–35 years; older adults: 65+ years) across two national-level cultures (looser culture: USA; tighter culture: South Korea) using various platforms (USA: Prolific; South Korea: Embrain). We will assess age-related norms about prosociality by asking participants how they expect younger or older adults to exhibit prosocial or self-focused behaviors. We will measure norm compliance with a standardized rule-following task (the 'blue ball task') developed by Kimbrough and Vostroknutov (. Additionally, prosociality will be assessed through: 1) self-reports of prosocial behaviors in daily life and 2) behavioral measures using the Charity Dictator Game, in which participants allocate USD 1 (KRW 1,000) between themselves and three international and three national charities. We will also measure well-being through the Happiness Scale (Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), the Loneliness Scale (Elphinstone, 2018; Russel, 1996), and subjective social status using the Social Ladder (Hoebel et al., 2015). For culture, we will use Cultural Tightness-Looseness (CTL) scale (Gelfand et al., 2011). At the end of the study, we will use the Social Value Orientation (SVO) sliders, asking participants to choose distributions between themselves and a charity, to assess social preferences (Murphy et al., 2011).

Data will be analyzed using multi-level models to examine prosocial behavior, with individual norm compliance nested within age groups and cultural contexts.