Chapter 6 - Norms

Question 1

What are social norms?

Injunctive norm / prescriptive norm / oughtness norm

Answer 1

normative statement specifying what a person should do or not do.

• moral: internalised norms (individual)
• informal: social norms (groups)
• formal: legal norms (state)

Question 2

What are social norms?

Social norm

Answer 2

informal, normative statement specifying what a person should do or not do. (Social norms may differ per group.)

Question 3

What are social norms?

Descriptive norm

Answer 3

conventions, customs, habits

Question 4

Social control theory

Social control theory

Answer 4

people adhere to social norms because deviations form social norms can be answered by social sanctions.

Application of social control theory - conformity:
- The higher people’s expected social sanctions in a group in case of norm-deviance, and the higher their expected social approval in case of norm-compliance, the more likely they are to conform to the social norms of that group (social control).

• Generally speaking, groups impose the social norm that their members should adjust their opinions and behavior to those of their group.
• Generally speaking, people expect that in case of norm deviance, there will be at least some social sanctions in the groups of which they are a member, whereas norm-compliance is expected to result in social approval.

Question 5

Social control theory

Social sanction

Answer 5

punishment for behavior diverging from social norms. This is an external sanction: a sanction imposed by third parties: other members of the group in which the social norm applies.

Question 6

Social control theory

Social approval

Answer 6

rewards and appreciation by other group members for following social norms

Question 7

Social control theory

Monitoring

Answer 7

the behavior of an individual within a group is visible to third parties. The higher the degree of monitoring in a group, the more strongly group members follow the group’s social norms

Question 8

Social control theory

Subjective social control theory

Answer 8

people’s subjective expectations of social sanctions or social approval and the degree of monitoring play a role in their adhering to social norms or not, rather than the objective conditions alone

Question 9

Internalized norms

Internalized norm / moral norm

Answer 9

norm that has become part of people’s intrinsic set of things one should do or prefer to do. Internalizes norms can also become part of someone’s personal preferences and values (things that people want and appreciate)

Question 10

Internalized norms

Internal sanction

Answer 10

feeling of shame, guilt and bad conscience resulting from deviating from internalized norms.

The dual-process model of human cognition (chapter 5) states that human behavior is often based on relatively automatic, fast and unconscious processes, based on learned and deeply ingrained cognitions, moral norms and values. Therefore, people are not aware of their own moral norms and values, but their behavior is automatically affected by them.

Question 11

Internalized norms

Habitus

Answer 11

behavioral dispositions that are based on cognitions, moral norms, values and cultural scripts that remain largely unconscious and which impact behavior in an automatic way

Question 12

Legal norms

Legal norm / law

Answer 12

formal, normative statement specifying what a person should do or not do

When legal authorities strongly monitors people and sanctions high, people are more likely to follow the rules. When legal norms are in line with social norms, people are more likely to comply to them.

Question 13

Legal norms

Formal santion

Answer 13

punishment for behavior diverging from legal norms.

Question 14

Why do norms emerge?

Norms may emerge to solve two kinds of collective problems___?

Answer 14

1. Cooperation problems / social dilemma
2. Coordination problems

Question 15

Why do norms emerge?

Cooperation problem / social dilemma

Answer 15

certain condition in which rational self-interest behavior results in collective problems, because individuals are tempted to free-ride.

Social norms work well in overcoming human cooperation problems in smaller groups, because in smaller groups people can better monitor and control each other’s behavior.
Legal norms work better for problems of large-scale populations. They serve the public good (good that serves collective benefits, such as national safety and environmental protection.)

Question 16

Why do norms emerge?

Free-ride

Answer 16

type of behavior in which one prefers personal gains above the interest of the group

Question 17

Why do norms emerge?

Dominant strategy

Answer 17

strategy that is favorable to choose irrespective of what other people do.

Question 18

Why do norms emerge?

Solution to the problem of cooperation___?

Answer 18

Injunctive norms can be regarded as solutions to problems of cooperation. They have the potential to solve the conflict between (often short-term) self-interest and (often longer-term) collective interest.

Question 19

Why do norms emerge?

Coordination problem

Answer 19

certain condition in which people want to do the same thing, but are uncertain about the behavior of each other.

Question 20

Why do norms emerge?

Descriptive norm

Answer 20

statement specifying what a person is expected to do.

Question 21

Why do norms emerge?

Decree

Answer 21

top-down change in descriptive norm

Question 22

Why do norms emerge?

Solution to the problem of coordination___?

Answer 22

Descriptive norms can be regarded as solutions to problems of coordination. There is no normative connotation to descriptive norms, because the self-interest is exactly the same as the interest of the group and therefore, there is also no need for free-riding and sanctions

Question 23

Cultural maladaptation and norm change

Unpopular norm

Answer 23

norm which is not serving collective benefits.

Question 24

Cultural maladaptation and norm change

Cultural maladaptation

Answer 24

norms and opinions which do not fit their social environment well

Question 25

Cultural maladaptation and norm change

Cultural inertia

Causes for cultural maladaptation

Answer 25

time-lag between changing social conditions and adapting new norms and opinions that are better suited to the new conditions.

Question 26

Cultural maladaptation and norm change

Pluralistic ignorance

Causes for cultural maladaptation

Answer 26

situation in which the majority of people privately reject a certain norm, but incorrectly believe that others privately support the norm.

• (For example the bystander effect: phenomenon in which people are less likely to help other people in a critical situation when passive bystanders are present.)
• False enforcement: people enforce the norm in public, and hence sanction deviance, even when they privately reject the norm, just to signal to others that they ‘truly’ support the norm.
• Spiral of silence: people’s tendency to remain silent and not express their private preference when they believe that their private preferences deviate from the majority’s preferences.

Question 27

The dynamics of group distinction

The trickle-down theory can be summarized as a coherent set of propositions and assumptions

Answer 27

1. There are multiple groups in society and these groups differ in their descriptive norms.
2. Groups are hierarchically ordered: they differ in their subjective ‘social standing’ and
   ‘prestige’.
3. Descriptive norms are symbolic expressions of group identity.
4. Higher-status groups invent new descriptive norms to symbolically differentiate their group
   from lower-status groups.
5. Lower-status groups imitate new descriptive norms to symbolically associate them with
   high-status groups.
6. The more strongly lower-status groups have adopted the high-status descriptive norms, the
   less attractive these descriptive norms are to high-status groups, resulting in new inventions (return to step 4).

So, high-status groups aim to agree on the same descriptive norm (all members comply to this norm) and at the same time this norm should be distinctive from those of low-status groups. There is within-group coordination and between-group distinction at the same time