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social norm
Sign in to saveAlso known as social norms, societal norm
informal understanding of acceptable conduct
A social norm is an informal, unwritten rule about how people are expected to behave in their community or society. These shared understandings of acceptable conduct help coordinate behavior and maintain order in groups, making social interactions more predictable and smoother.
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Research
28,676 papers- Social norm dynamics and cooperation in changing groups.ReviewCurrent opinion in psychology · 2024Otten K, Buskens V, Przepiorka W et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101849
- Norm Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Norm Emergence, Persistence, and Change.ReviewAnnual review of psychology · 2024Gelfand MJ, Gavrilets S, Nunn NDOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-033020-013319
- Social sanctions in response to injunctive norm violations.ReviewCurrent opinion in psychology · 2024Douglas BD, Holley K, Isenberg N et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101850
- Social norm interventions as a tool for pro-climate change.ReviewCurrent opinion in psychology · 2021Nolan JMDOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.06.001
- Social norm strength and norm change.ReviewCurrent opinion in psychology · 2025Szekely A, Tummolini L, Vriens E et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102040
- Modelling social norms: an integration of the norm-utility approach with beliefs dynamics.ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Gavrilets S, Tverskoi D, Sánchez ADOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0027
- Social norm change: drivers and consequences.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Andrighetto G, Gavrilets S, Gelfand M et al.DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0023
- Social norms and their influence on eating behaviours.ReviewAppetite · 2015Higgs SDOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.10.021
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Encyclopedic overview
A social norm or norm is a shared standard of acceptable behavior by a group. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into rules and laws. Social normative influences or social norms, are deemed to be powerful drivers of human behavioural changes and well organized and incorporated by major theories which explain human behaviour. Institutions are composed of multiple norms. Norms are shared social beliefs about behavior; thus, they are distinct from "ideas", "attitudes", and "values", which can be held privately, and which do not necessarily concern behavior. Norms are contingent on context, social group, and historical circumstances.
Scholars distinguish between regulative norms (which constrain behavior), constitutive norms (which shape interests), and prescriptive norms (which prescribe what actors ought to do). The effects of norms can be determined by a logic of appropriateness and logic of consequences; the former entails that actors follow norms because it is socially appropriate, and the latter entails that actors follow norms because of cost-benefit calculations. Others see social norms emerging as part of an evolutionarily stable strategy, where they stabilize through third-party punishment.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “social norm” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.