解决多元无知问题，促进性别平等

ELIZABETH COSTENBADER, LORENA LEVANO GAVIDIA,ANA MARÍA MUÑOZ BOUDET ABSTRACT: Pluralistic ignorance is a social norms phenomenon in which peoplemistakenly believe that their personal preferences are not what mostpeople around them support or prefer. This misalignment can leadindividuals to adjust their behaviors away from their preferences.Pluralistic ignorance can also explain why certain social norms, particularlythose that support or justify harmful practices and/or actions that limit TABLE OF CONTENT I.BACKGROUNDII.DEFINING PLURALISTIC IGNORANCEIII.PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE AS A POLICY CONCERNIV.THE CHALLENGES OF IDENTIFYING AND INTERVENING ON PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE This thematic policy note is part of a series that provides an analytical foundation for the new World BankGender Strategy (2024–2030). This series seeks to give a broad overview of the latest research and findingson gender equality outcomes and summarizes key thematic issues, evidence on promising solutions,operational good practices, and key areas for future engagement in promoting gender equality and This thematic policy note was written by Elizabeth Costenbader, Lorena Levano Gavidia, and Ana MaríaMuñoz Boudet. The team thanks Rachael Susan Pierotti and Tasmia Rahman for their helpful feedback and Evidence from low- and middle-income countriesconsistently shows that efforts to advance genderequality, address barriers, and expand opportunities forwomen and girls must include a clear understanding of,and deliberately address, the social norms that shapebehavior.Pluralistic ignorance (PI) is a social phenomenonthat arises when people misperceive how common or Until recently, social norms were most commonlymeasured by looking at proxy or indirect measures of theirexistencesuch as by looking at outcomes assumed to bestrongly dependent on social norms (e.g., child marriage orwomen’s employment); by examining the views expressed Social norms are a key element of persistent genderinequality.They operate as the set of informal rules thatdefine which actions are considered acceptable, appropriate,or obligatory within a given group or community (Cialdini,Reno, & Kallgren, 1990; Cislaghi & Heise, 2018). Gender norms,the societal expectations of how individuals ought to behavein their everyday lives based on their gender, often reinforceand perpetuate a cycle of internalization and endorsementof gender inequalities (Heise et al., 2019) and have beenshown to significantly shape and limit the opportunities and Advances in measurement have been supported by agrowing consensus across social science theory on a fewkey dimensions of social norms.In particular, social norms 1.Empirical expectations— beliefs about how othersbehave in a given situation (also referred to asdescriptive norms) (Bicchieri, 2006; 2016; Cialdini,Kallgren, & Reno, 1991; Cialdini & Trost, 1998; Fishbein 2.Normative expectations— beliefs about the socialacceptability or approval of a behavior (also referredto asinjunctive norms) (Cialdini, Kallgren & Reno, Social norms are not static; they vary across groups andcontexts, and while they can evolve over time, not allnorms change at the same pace.For example, worldwide,in many social contexts, it has become more acceptable forwomen to work outside the home or to hold public office,but there has been less change in the division of household In simple terms, a social norm is a rule of behavior thatpeople follow because they believe others do the sameand that others think they should do so (see Figure 1).Socialnorms are also sustained by the shared expectation that With a clear understanding of the different componentsof social norms, the core elements of PI can be identified.Since social norms are clearly distinct from individualattitudes, the former should reflect the collective attitudesof individuals within a given group. Thus, in theory, theshare of individuals reporting a particular attitude should proportion would be expected to perceive that their peers While personal beliefs and perceptions of norms within agroup will not always align exactly, a sizable gap betweenthe two is a key indicator of PI.This gap reflects situationswhere a norm persists because people misperceive or ignoreothers’ true beliefs (Bicchieri, Lindemans, & Jiang, 2014).Figure 2 presents an example from a recent global survey FIGURE 2: PERSONAL BELIEFS VS NORMATIVE EXPECTATIONS REPORTED Pluralistic ignorance (PI) refers to a social phenomenonthat occurs when the beliefs or behaviors perceived tobe shared within a group differ from the actual beliefs orbehaviors of its members, leading individuals to act in waysthat contradict their personal attitudes.The term was firstcoined in 1931 by social psychologists (Katz & Allport, 1931),and since then it has been utilized across multiple fields. Itsuse has ranged from stronger emphasis on the ‘‘pluralistic’’part of the phenomenon (Bjerring, Hansen, & Pedersen, Conceptualizations of PI, particularly for som