Assessment 2 PDF

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Assessment 2
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What are social norms? How do they shape behaviour? Give examples from everyday life.

Social norms are unwritten rules that govern what is acceptable in society. They provide individuals with an expected idea of how to act in a specific group or culture. Social norms are powerful and have a significant influence on the actions of all individuals within society (McDonald and Crandall 2015). However, these social norms are ever changing according to the environment, situation and over time. For example, individuals are expected to dress accordingly when going to gym by wearing activewear and running shoes. However, in ancient Greece, the societal norm was that all individuals who were at a gym were to be naked. The difference in norms between the two vastly different time periods demonstrate how social norms change according to context and time. Social norms have a distinct impact on shaping an individual’s behaviour as the need to be accepted by society may cause one's own behaviour to change. This can be seen through socialisation,social approval and disapproval and social influence as they all have a crucial effect on social norms due to the way they help develop an individual’s behaviour and attitude to help them conform with society and fit in.

The existence of social norms does not directly lead to the compliance of the norm but more the expectation that others will comply to the norm. More precisely, Bicchieri and Xiao debated that “two different expectations influence our choice to obey a norm: what we expect others to do (empirical expectations) and what we believe others think we ought to do (normative expectations)” (Bicchieri and Xiao 2009). To simplify, individuals will follow the societal norm if they assume that other people will follow the norm and also if they expect the individual to comply with the norm.

Socialisation is a significant process by which an individual learns the appropriate and accepted ways of behaving and thinking within a particular society (McCormack, Anderson, Jamie and David 2018). This process is crucial for individuals and especially children as learning and adapting to new social environments and their norms is important. Socialisation is not just limited to children, it is a long process which is constantly at work as individuals are always learning how to act in accordance to a particular society's norms. Socialisation is often split into two categories; primary and secondary (McCormack, Anderson, Jamie and David 2018). Primary socialisation occurs during the early stages of life where children learn most of what is wrong and right by their parents. Primary socialisation is where children learn verbal skills, body language and several other ways of communication that they are taught or copied from

adults around them. This includes being overtly taught rules (such as do not speak while food is in your mouth) and covertly learning by observation (such as do not place your belongings next to you on a train if it is crowded). Primary socialisation shapes an individual’s behaviour through learning and observing as it is important for children to develop social abilities and learn how to engage in a classroom seating scenario. Secondary socialisation occurs after primary socialisation where individuals learn from people other than their family unit. This process involves individuals learning norms from people they do not share a connection with such as a school or shopping centre. As opposed to primary socialisation, secondary socialisation encompasses an amount of decision-making and negotiation by children as they learn to conform with society (McCormack, Anderson, Jamie and David 2018). The school environment is vastly different to home and children need to change the way they act to conform with the norms and rules within the new environment. For example, students need to wait till the teacher and other students are not talking, then raise their hands and wait until the teacher responds to talk to the classroom. This may differ to the student’s home where he may talk over people and respond without needing to put his hand up. The ability to adapt and change behaviour to particular social environments is honed through socialisation and is important for individuals to have. Secondary socialisation details an individual’s behaviour through decision-making skills enhanced by observations of different social environments.

Social approval and disapproval are the acceptance or unacceptance of certain behaviours and actions which are governed by the social norms of the particular environment (Tesar 2020). Social norms have a significant influence on health as norms and expectations by society can force individuals to conform. Social norms have the ability to sway the ideals and the state of society through approving and disapproving certain behaviours or actions which in turn lead to individuals conforming and seeking approval to fit in. For example, social disapproval, in accordance with health, can be seen through risky and unhealthy behaviours such as substance abuse, smoking and risky sexual practice. Detrimental behaviours such as the above are frowned upon by society due to the collision they have against normalities. Many individuals stay away from unhealthy behaviours that are against social norms as they want to fit in and do not want to be excluded from social groups. In contrast, social approval can be seen through healthy behaviours such as maintaining a healthy weight and staying physically active. These social norms may be associated with praise or a reward to encourage individuals to maintain such behaviours as well as a healthy society. For example, an individual who cleans rubbish he sees visible within a local park may be rewarded with compliments by bystanders who acknowledge the good deeds he is doing. However, an individual’s social networks have a significant impact on how acceptal some social norms are. For example, a social network filled with individuals exhibiting unhealthy

behaviours, such as smoking, may result in social contagion to conform to these new norms. More precisely, an individual who grew up with their parents smoking will tend to be used to cigarettes and it may become a social norm within their home. This juxtaposition between social approval and disapproval can shape behaviour as an individual has to choose whether they will conform to society’s norms of healthy behaviour or their social network’s norms to fit in (Tesar 2020).

Social influence is the alteration of an individual’s behaviour caused by another, intentionally or unintentionally, as a result of the direction the changed individual perceives “themselves in relationship to the influencer, other people and society in general” (Minds 2020). Social influences lead to the creation of social norms as people are influenced and changed to act in accordance to the person in which they are mimicking (McDonald and Crandall 2015). There are three areas of social influence; conformity, compliance, obedience. Conformity refers to an individual changing how they behave to be more like others within the social environment (Minds 2020). Conformity is seen throughout societies as individuals tend to seek approval and friendships of others and are willing to change their behaviour to achieve it. However, conformity can be serious as individuals will go to lengths such as changing their beliefs and values just to be like those around them and gain approval. For example, an individual may change the team he supports to conform with the group he seeks approval in. Compliance refers to a situation where an individual completes a task they were asked to do by another (Minds 2020). The choice to either comply or not comply may be influenced by the individual’s perception of the social rewards and punishment that may result from this choice. However, the perceptions of the social rewards and punishments from the choice to comply or not may lead the individual to choose compliance when they personally do not want to. For example, an individual may be asked to help another person complete their homework. They may agree so they can gain a social reward by the individual and be seen as a closer friend. Obedience refers to an individual obeying an order from an authoritative figure and differs from compliance (Minds 2020). In compliance, the individual believes they have been provided with a choice, however, in obedience, the individual does not believe they have a choice. For example, an individual may be asked to clean the dishes by his parents and does so because he does not think he has a choice. These three areas of social influence help shape an individual’s behaviour through their ability to conform, comply or be obedient.

Society is one of the best things humans have created, to agree to work together and create an organized and improved life for everyone (Mikeliest 2017). Social norms attempt to maintain peace and unity within society by providing unwritten rules to govern

what is and isn’t acceptable within the particular social environment. These social norms play a pivotal role within society and the development of individuals and their behaviour. Due to the context of certain social environments, individuals may act differently as their behaviour is shaped around the norms from where they are from. Socialisation, social influence and social approval and disapproval all have a significant impact on social norms as they help cultivate and prosper an individual’s behaviour and demeanor.

Reference Mikeliest, 2017. Social Norms. [video] Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2020]. Minds, C., 2020. Social Influence. [online] Changingminds.org. Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2020]. McCormack, M., Anderson, E., Jamie, K. and David, M. (2018). Discovering Sociology. London, UK: Palgrave. (Chapter 1, 6). Tesar, J. How Do Social Norms and Expectations About Others Influence Individual Behavior?. Found Sci 25, 135–150 (2020). https://doi-org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1007/s10699-019-09582-y Rachel I McDonald, Christian S Crandall, Social norms and social influence, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 3, 2015, Pages 147-151, ISSN 2352-1546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.04.006. Bicchieri, C. and Xiao, E. (2009), Do the right thing: but only if others do so. J. Behav. Decis. Making, 22: 191-208. doi:10.1002/bdm.621...