PAPER WITHDRAWN--Social Norms, Self-Interest, and Ambiguity: An Experimental Analysis of the Rule vs. Standard Dilemma.

The general belief is that social norms influence behavior and that the willingness to obey legal norms is to a large degree influenced by beliefs and convictions concerning the behavior of others. Yet the nature of the influence of social norms on legal norms depends to a large extent on contingencies which have not been fully investigated. This paper explores two parameters which influence the degree to which social norms influence the willingness of individuals to conform to the law: the type of social norms (positive and negative social norms) and the type of legal norms (rules or standards). The paper employs experimental techniques to explore the effects of these two parameters on legal compliance and the hypothesized interaction that exists between these two factors. The findings indicate that these parameters are important and may affect the degree to which social norms influence the willingness of individuals to conform to the law. While our findings indicate that in the absence of information concerning social norms, rules and standards have similar effects on deterrence, it also indicates that rules and standards have differential effects on deterrence when they interact with social norms. Furthermore our findings also indicate that negative social norms, namely social norms of disobedience have greater effects on the willingness to obey legal norms than social norms of obedience. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]