Positive and negative norm regulation and their relationship to therapy group size

Norm regulation was examined in 18 outpatient psychotherapy groups, each led by cotherapists and varying in size from two to eight clients. Clients indicated acceptabilityand likelihood of occurrenceof 24 member behaviors. Positive norm regulation of acceptable behaviors was more readily achieved than negative norm regulation of unacceptable behaviors. The amount of positive regulation in any group was unrelated to the amount of negative regulation. However, group size was associated with both positive and negative regulation, with very small groups achieving more norm regulations than large groups.The author is grateful to suggestions by Bob Dies, Ken Howard, and Roy MacKenzie on an earlier draft of this paper.