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The influence of social norm activation on the expression of opinions concerning gay men (Experiment 1) and Blacks (Experiment 2) was explored. In both experiments, participants reported their opinions after hearing a confederate give prejudiced or nonprejudiced opinions (making a prejudiced or nonprejudiced norm salient) or simply in the presence of a confederate. Results showed that participants in both experiments reported less prejudiced opinions after a nonprejudiced norm was made salient, relative to the control condition. Activation of a prejudiced norm did not have a significant effect, relative to the control condition. Furthermore, the powerful effect of activating the nonprejudiced social norm was observed regardless of participants' prejudice level. Results are consistent with the notion that, in contemporary society, the social norm opposing prejudice is stronger than the norm favoring prejudice.
Monteith et al. (Sun,) studied this question.