We draw on norms theory to develop hypotheses about norms regulating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. We identify two theoretical approaches—the consequentialist and social cues approach—and argue that understanding norms will be enhanced by integrating these two approaches. We apply these general theoretical approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic to suggest concrete hypotheses regarding distancing norms. We test our hypotheses using two vignette experiments. We find that when the consequences of behavior are clear, both behavior consequences and social cues independently affect norms. But when the consequences of a behavior are ambiguous, behaviors and social cues interact to affect norms. Theoretically, our results provide the first empirical test of an integrated theory of norms, showing that in ambiguous situations an integrated approach produces more accurate predictions than either the behavior consequences or social cues approach alone. Substantively, our paper helps to explain Covid-19 distancing norms and variation in those norms across political orientation. Our findings have implications for understanding support for and compliance with public health directives.

我们利用规范理论来发展有关在Covid-19大流行期间调节社会距离的规范的假设。我们确定了两种理论方法-结果论方法和社会暗示方法-并认为通过整合这两种方法可以增强对规范的理解。我们将这些一般的理论方法应用于Covid-19大流行，以提出有关距离规范的具体假设。我们使用两个小插图实验来检验我们的假设。我们发现，当行为的后果明确时，行为后果和社会暗示都会独立影响规范。但是，当行为的后果含糊不清时，行为和社会暗示会相互作用，从而影响规范。从理论上讲，我们的结果为规范的综合理论提供了第一个实证检验，表明在模棱两可的情况下，综合方法比单独的行为后果或社会线索方法能产生更准确的预测。从本质上讲，我们的论文有助于解释Covid-19的距离规范以及这些规范在整个政治方向上的差异。我们的发现对理解支持和遵守公共卫生指令具有重要意义。