Deference in Indians' decision making: introjected goals or injunctive norms?

We examine the claim that Indians are more likely than Americans to act deferentially in the presence of authority figures and explore 2 possible psychological mechanisms for this cultural difference: introjected goals and injunctive norms. Studies 1 and 2 showed that after reflecting upon an authority's expectations, Indians were more likely than Americans to make clothing and course choices consistent with the authority's expectations, but there was no such cultural difference for peers' expectations. Study 3 showed that merely activating the concept of authority figures, without highlighting specific expectations, was sufficient to influence Indians' choices but not their evaluations. Examining a more basic distinction underlying introjected goals versus injunctive norms, Study 4 showed that authority primes influenced Indians' sense of what they should do but not what they want to do. Study 5 showed that, inconsistent with the internalized goal mechanism, the effect of explicit authority primes did not increase after brief delays. However, Indian participants who were less likely to accommodate to the salient authority experienced more guilt across delay conditions, which supported the injunctive norms mechanism. The findings suggest that manipulating injunctive norms can be an effective means for inducing or eliminating deferential behaviors in Indian settings.     

The Impact of the Antitobacco Norm on the Selected Mode of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that when behavior violates an antismoking injunctive norm, dissonance is aroused, but the injunctive norm constrains how people reduce their discomfort. In Experiment 1, participants with positive or negative attitudes toward public smoking wrote an essay for or against a ban on public smoking. Whereas attitude change occurred for those whose counter‐attitudinal essay supported the antismoking norm, those whose counter‐attitudinal essay violated the antismoking norm did not change their attitudes to reduce dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants who wrote against the ban on public smoking eschewed attitude change in favor of reducing dissonance through trivialization and act rationalization. The discussion focuses on how maintaining social connections makes cognitions resistant to change when dissonance is aroused.     

Should Versus Want: On the Relative Contribution of Injunctive Norms and Preferences on Trust Decisions

Despite much research on the determinants of trust among strangers, its mechanisms are understood only rudimentarily. Recently, it has been proposed that people trust strangers because they believe they should, thus complying with an injunctive norm even if it conflicts with their preferences. However, given the boldness of this claim and in light of independent arguments and earlier findings that suggest otherwise, the hypothesis requires critical scrutiny. Thus, we tested whether the decision to trust (in the trust game) is indeed more strongly driven by what people think they should entrust rather than what they want to entrust in two studies. We consistently found a stronger influence of “want” than of “should” on trust decisions even when controlling for the fairness aspect inherent in the trust game. Thus, our findings speak against a predominant role of injunctive norms for trust behavior and confirm that the latter is mostly driven by preferences. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strength of identification and intergroup differentiation: the influence of group norms

The present study aimed at showing that the relationship between identification and ingroup bias is moderated by salient group norms that prescribe or proscribe differentiation in an intergroup context. A study (N=191) in which level of identification and group norms were manipulated showed that high identifiers acted more in accordance with a salient differentiation norm compared to low identifiers. When a fairness norm was made salient, however, the expected difference was not obtained. The results are discussed in the context of the inconsistent relationships between ingroup bias and identification found in previous research. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meaning in life goal pursuit moderates the effects of social influences on college student drinking

This study sought to examine whether life goal meaning serves as a protective factor against the effects of social influences on hazardous drinking. The sample consisted of 156 college drinkers who had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. Results indicated that goal meaning moderated the relation between both injunctive norms and direct offers and heavy drinking episodes. Simple slopes' analyses showed that injunctive norms predicted heavy episodic drinking for students with low but not high levels of goal meaning. Direct offers predicted heavy episodic drinking, however, the strength of this association was reduced at high levels of goal meaning. Results suggest that higher levels of goal meaning may buffer the effects of social influences on college student hazardous drinking.     

学龄儿童的规范理解与利他惩罚的关系：从描述性到指令性倾向

研究通过有第三方的信任博弈考察6～11岁中国儿童的规范理解与利他惩罚之间的关系。结果发现：（1）6～11岁儿童对描述性规范的理解如果达到成人理解的标准,就更有可能做出利他惩罚;（2）不同规范理解与利他惩罚的关系受到年龄的调节作用,即在6～8岁儿童中,描述性规范理解可预测利他惩罚;而在9～11岁儿童中,指令性规范理解可预测利他惩罚。这提示学龄儿童的规范理解与利他惩罚之间关系的形成过程可能存在从描述性向指令性的转变倾向,与社会规范的习得过程和形成过程或有共通之处。     

‘We're all individuals’: group norms of individualism and collectivism,levels of identification and identity threat

Three studies were conducted to investigate the power of group norms of individualism and collectivism to guide self‐definition and group behavior for people with low and high levels of group identification. Study 1 demonstrates that in an individualist culture (North America), those who identify highly with their national identity are more individualist than low identifiers. In contrast, in a collectivist culture (Indonesia) high identifiers are less individualist than low identifiers. Study 2 manipulates group norms of individualism and collectivism, and shows a similar pattern on a self‐stereotyping measure: High identifiers are more likely to incorporate salient group norms prescribing individualism or collectivism into their self‐concept than low identifiers. Study 3 replicates this effect and shows that high identifiers conform more strongly to group norms, and self‐stereotype themselves in line with the salient norm than low identifiers when their group is threatened. Hence, the findings suggest that when there is a group norm of individualism, high identifiers may show individualist behavior as a result of conformity to salient group norms. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotions as guardians of group norms: expressions of anger and disgust drive inferences about autonomy and purity violations

Other people’s emotional reactions to a third person’s behaviour are potentially informative about what is appropriate within a given situation. We investigated whether and how observers’ inferences of such injunctive norms are shaped by expressions of anger and disgust. Building on the moral emotions literature, we hypothesised that angry and disgusted expressions produce relative differences in the strength of autonomy-based versus purity-based norm inferences. We report three studies (plus three supplementary studies) using different types of stimuli (vignette-based, video clips) to investigate how emotional reactions shape norms about potential norm violations (eating snacks, drinking alcohol), and contexts (groups of friends, a university, a company). Consistent with our theoretical argument, the results indicate that observers use others’ emotional reactions not only to infer whether a particular behaviour is inappropriate, but also why it is inappropriate: because it primarily violates autonomy standards (as suggested relatively more strongly by expressions of anger) or purity standards (as suggested relatively more strongly by expressions of disgust). We conclude that the social functionality of emotions in groups extends to shaping norms based on moral standards.