Justification and conformity

•We design experiments to test how pure justification pressure affects conformity.•Individuals are more likely to act on what the audience thinks they should do when they have to justify decisions.•When it is salient one should not act selfishly, justification pressure discourages selfish behavior.

The need to justify is both a widely observed social phenomenon and an important part of communication. This paper examines experimentally how pure pressure to justify affects conformity behavior in economic environments. The evidence suggests that pressure to justify increases sensitivity to norm deviations. In a one-shot anonymous interaction, compared with the case when the behavior is simply observed by the audience, individuals' behaviors are more likely to reflect what they believe the audience thinks they should do when they must explain their decisions to the audience. Whether justification pressure can discourage selfish behavior is positively correlated with the proportion of individuals who believe the audience disapproves of such behavior. The implications of these findings can help shape institutions to promote conformity and prosocial behavior.