Social Influence

Perceptions of Behavioral Norms Related to HIV Transmission by People with HIV and by Residents of Their Communities
Miller CT, Bunn JY, Grover KW and Solomon SE
We examined how people with HIV are both part of and apart from the communities in which they live. We compared perceptions of behavioral norms of 203 people with HIV living in 33 different communities with community-level normative perceptions assessed by surveys of 2,444 randomly selected residents of these communities. Participants with HIV perceived behavior that risks the transmission of HIV as injunctively and descriptively more normative than did other community residents. Participants with HIV living in communities in which community residents perceived relatively widespread approval of condom use to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases also perceived these behaviors as injunctively normative, and they perceived relatively low levels of HIV stigmatization. Discussion focuses on how perceptions about "deviant" behaviors may affect the experiences of people whose stigmatized status is assumed to be the result of such behavior.
Norwegian citizens' responses to influxes of asylum seekers: comparing across two refugee crises
Bjånesøy L and Bye HH
We compared Norwegians' attitudes to immigration, perspective taking, and intergroup behaviors directed at asylum seekers in 2016 (Syrians and Afghans) and 2022 (Ukrainians). We find evidence for a stronger exclusionary response to the asylum seekers in 2016 than in 2022. Attitudes to immigration were more negative in 2016 than in 2022, and skepticism and avoiding asylum seekers was more common. However, the dominant behavior in both years was prosocial (greeting and donating) and Norwegians' willingness to take asylum seekers perspective was similar in 2016 and 2022. These results may reflect an absence of a symbolic threat in 2022 and may be connected to differences in the political rhetoric about asylum seekers in 2015/2016 and 2022.