Causal Evidence for the Role of Respect Norms in Promoting Tolerance

Promoting social norms can be a powerful tool to deal with the intolerance that threatens our societies. This research explores how equality-based respect norms foster intergroup tolerance. We developed an experimental paradigm manipulating equality-based respect norms within social media to promote tolerance toward the LGBTIQ+ community in Poland. Across three studies (Study 1: N = 98; Study 2: N = 381; Study 3: N = 377), manipulations consistently affected perceptions of descriptive and injunctive norms in a Facebook post and in Polish society. Moderation analyses showed that the effect of our manipulation on tolerance emerged only among participants with less positive attitudes toward homosexual people (Study 1) or stronger disapproval of same-sex marriage (Study 3). This supports the conceptualization of tolerance as respecting others despite disapproving of their behavior. We discuss the implications of this research for the promotion of respect norms and tolerance as a way to deal with the challenges associated with divisions in society.