Social Norms and Identity Relevance: A Motivational Approach to Normative Behavior

Abstract

Two studies demonstrated that greater identification with a group was associated with more positive emotions for members who conformed with versus violated the group's norms. These effects were found with injunctive norms, which specify what members should do or what they ideally would do, but emerged less consistently with descriptive norms, which specify what members typically do. Descriptive norms affected emotional responses when they acquired identity-relevance by differentiating an important ingroup from a rival outgroup. For these descriptive norms, much like injunctive norms, greater identification yielded more positive emotions following conformity than violation. The authors suggest that positive emotions and self-evaluations underlie conformity with the norms of self-defining groups.

Cute, Creepy, or Crispy—How Values, Attitudes, and Norms Shape Human Behavior Toward Bats

“…Individuals breaking these rules may be sanctioned formally, if the norm is written into law for example, or informally through social disapproval. The more motivated an individual is to identify with a particular social group, the more likely they are to recognize and conform to the group's norms (Deaux 1996;Manfredo 2008), particularly if the norm is central to group identification (Christensen et al 2004). Social norms are dynamic, and they depend on the person and situation (Ajzen 1971).…”

‘A holiday is a holiday’: practicing sustainability, home and away

“…Overall, therefore, these were individuals who displayed high levels of environmental concern and who at least partly defined their lifestyles by their attachment to nature and its protection. However, this did cause internal conflict with the damaging impact of flying, a conflict probably related to a perception of self-identity and self-presentation as being a pro-environmental individual (Sadalla nd Krull, 1995;Christensen et al, 2004). The solution therefore suggested by the group on the whole, was not to stop flying, but to develop more trusted off-setting schemes and better technology to reduce carbon emissions:…”

Negative Emotional Energy: A Theory of the “Dark-Side” of Interaction Ritual Chains

“…Over time, a series of positive interactions will result in feelings of solidarity and increased group membership (ee + ), whereas a series of negative interactions will diminish these feelings of group cohesion and increase disaffiliation (ee − ). However, much like the relationship between group salience and solidarity, the degree to which an individual identifies with a group tends to determine how much negative emotion is built up as a result of failed interactions [46]. For instance, if an individual experiences negative interactions with a group toward which they hold little salience, like a group of casual acquaintances, he or she is largely left emotionally unaffected, experiencing minimal gains of ee − .…”