Illusory anonymity shifts moral norms, not merely behavior amounts

Evidence

In a series of clever experiments, Chenbo Zhong, Vanessa Bohns, and Francesca Gino created what they call “illusory anonymity,” the false feeling of being hidden from view. Under the guise of testing a new product, they randomly assigned University of Toronto student participants to either wear dark sunglasses or clear eyeglasses. Then, in what appeared to be an unrelated task, participants were given 6 dollars and the opportunity to share any of that amount with an anonymous stranger. (This is the well-known one-shot Dictator Game, which I will describe in more detail later.) Results showed that clear eyeglass–wearing participants gave on average 2.71, whereas dark sunglass–wearing participants gave on average 1.81. This is a sizable difference, but this effect is interesting not because of its size. Wearing dark glasses did not merely reduce donations—it changed the norm for how to behave in this situation. That is, wearing clear glasses led to an equal sharing norm (2.71 is statistically identical to $3—that is, splitting the amount evenly), whereas dark glasses induced a more selfish norm. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 87

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘illusory anonymity’ — the perceived rather than actual state of being hidden, which is what public rituals like the fumi-e destroy.
• XREF: Feeds the core analytical claim: the fumi-e’s power is precisely that it abolishes illusory anonymity as a psychological state, making apostasy observably public rather than merely privately known.