Implicit Norm Analysis

When developing a group the norms of the group can ultimately determine the therapeutic outcome for the group (Yalom, 2005). Norms are formed by the leader’s behavior and the group’s expectations (Yalom, 2005). The norms are the standard social behavior for the group. This would include acceptable behavior and typical conduct of the group members.

Norms are rules for behavior that are based on values, made through society. Breaking one of the norms can sometimes make people uncomfortable, or even disgusted. There are general rules that can make a conversation comfortable, based on how well a person knows others that talking in the conversation (“Social Distance”). As I experimented with the disruption of conversational distance, I experienced two completely different reactions. Depending on the level of comfortability, norms can be accepted behavior or can be

In our society we have a number of society norms that we abide by. For example, there is an unwritten rule of how one should behave in an elevator. For example, it is proper to face front, stand away from strangers, and not to look at others. When a social norm is broken people may respond with alarm, humor, fear, irritation, or an array of other emotions. When you think of a norm, you are probably thinking about being normal. But in psychology terms, norm means, a standard or representative value for a group. The norm that is more common to people is a social norm. Meaning expectations about what behavior, thoughts, or feelings are appropriate within a given group within a given context.

Norming – during this stage the trust and respect is developing amongst the members of the group, since it becomes clear that each member has a role and they are aware of what

In our society we have a number of norms that we abide by. For example, there is an unwritten rule of how one should behave in an elevator. It is “proper” to face front, stand away from strangers, and not to look at others. When a social norm is broken people may respond with alarm, humour, fear, irritation, or an array of other emotions. When you think of a norm, you are probably thinking about simply being normal. But in psychology terms, norm means a standard or representative value for a group. A social norm is some sort of an expectation that our society has that is deemed normal by that society; they tell us which behaviors, thoughts, or feelings are appropriate within a given

“Social norms are rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide and/or constrain human behavior without the force of laws” (Steg, 2013, p. 154). Social norms have two areas or types they fall into. Injunctive norms are considered behavior that is approved or disapproved and descriptive norms are described as behavior shown by the members of a group. Individuals follow social norms for the rewards involved and the individual wants to avoid rejection and ridicule from societal members. “Social norms can exert a powerful influence on pro-environmental behavior through normative and informational influence” (Steg, 2013, p. 162). Behavior is influenced through normative and informational influences, also moderator variables that may decrease or increase the strength of the influence. Moderator variables contain the size of the group in question, the salience of the norm, if the group is considered an in-group, and the individual personal norms. “A wide variety of research shows that the behavior of others in the social environment shape individuals’ interpretations of, and responses to, the situation, especially in novel, ambiguous, or uncertain

As one matures, a certain peer groups reinforce beliefs. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, in her book Spiral of Silence, explains individuals inherently fear social isolation from peers and are apprehensive of speaking out against group ideas (Patterson 161).

During the social norm violation experiment, my partner and I found that by violating simple social norms people can react either calmly or highly confused. The social norm we chose to violate was asking for someone else’s seat in class and at lunch. My partner and I believed that most of the participants would react either confused or just give up their seat to be nice. To follow through with the experiment, my partner went up to ten different students while either in lunch or in class and politely asked to switch seats. I observed the whole situation, I watched the difference in each person’s body language, tone, attitude, and their answer. Most of the time, whenever my partner asked a student for their seat, they looked at her confused at

In this exercise, you are going to examine some of the norms that affect your topic. Often, there are unstated or implicit norms that shape our perceptions and behaviors. Especially when we are trying to create change, our actions may be perceived as deviant and elicit a strong social reaction from others. In general, how much do you think self-presentation and social norms affect your topic? Are people completely honest about the topic or do they maintain

There is a fundamental human need to belong to social groups especially if people were to live and work together, it is likely that they need to agree on common beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours in order to get along and fit-in. Thus, we learnt to conform to rules of other people, the more people see others behaving in a particular way or making particular decisions, the more likely people will feel obliged to follow the suit. This is called conformity and can be defined in different ways, Aronson, Wilson & Akert (2014) stated it is the changing of one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people. According to Deutsch and Gerard (1955), social influence should be distinguished into two types, the informational social influence and normative social influence. The occurrence of social influence has implied to many real life events, which has drawn many researchers to attention. This has lead many researchers to design distinct experiments to try and understand the cause of the conformity, whether conformity is situation dependent, and whether we are able to resist social influences.

In the article “Under the Influence: How the Group Changes What We Think” by Shirley Wang, the main point is that people often follow the actions that their group does. Psychologists are looking at how social norms and how it affects our behavior and attitude. Social norms are a way to let us know if we are in the group or not. Individuals wonder if the “leader” of the group changes the norms or does it happen over time. Researchers introduced a new idea or innovation to a group and studied who would introduce it.

Going down the stairs to the dining room, the smell of the food was slowly caressing my nostrils, and I thought, hmm… what a provocative scent food has. It was time for dinner, the same time everyday, a respected period followed by everyone in the house. This costume is a behavior which translates in the expectation of a reward to my brain. This stimuli represented by the anticipation of satisfying my need for food, has a biopsychological origin given the fact that, to maintain a healthy body I need to nourish it. Therefore, behaviorism has, in this case, an emphatic value promoting the mandatory attention to our needs.

Social norms are people’s beliefs about the attitudes and behaviors that are normal, acceptable or even expected in a particular social context. In many situations people’s perceptions of these norms will greatly influence their behavior. When people misperceive the norms of their peer group—that is, when they inaccurately think an attitude or behavior is more (or less) common than is actually the case—they may choose to engage in behaviors that are in sync with those false norms.1 Pluralistic Ignorance is the term that is used in academia to discuss social norms theory and refers to the incorrect belief that one’s private attitudes, judgments or behaviors are different from others.

“Social influence is the process by which the actions of an individual or group affect the behavior of others” (Feldman 495). These influences are strongly experienced by members in the group. Every group is unique and is mostly guided by a particular norm and behavior. An individual in a group passively or actively allows himself to be influenced by the group just to have a sense of belongingness. In the bid to prevent being excluded or rejected from a group, some individuals overtly adhere to the norms of the group. “Thus, people conform to meet the expectations of the group” (Feldman 495).

Normative influence primarily occurs in situations where an individual, when amidst others in a crowd, tend to go along with them primarily in order to be liked and accepted by them as part of their fraternity. Research has identified that normative inference normally occurs as an inborn human nature as human beings tends to associate themselves with others in order to maintain a good social contact and relationship with them. Ideally, normative influence is normally furthered by the need for an individual to increase their chances of surviving especially during adverse conditions. This entails that people may at times seem to agree with others just in order for them to appease themselves to them and avoid potential conflict of standing alone and standing out. In some situations normative influence may occur where individuals associate with complete strangers. In such cases, due to mutual fear for each other, an individual may naturally try to agree with the rest in order to avoid appearing as contradictory or controversial.