Graduate School of Business and Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA; email:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Annu Rev Psychol. 2024 Jan 18;75:341-378. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-033020-013319. Epub 2023 Oct 31.
Social norms are the glue that holds society together, yet our knowledge of them remains heavily intellectually siloed. This article provides an interdisciplinary review of the emerging field of norm dynamics by integrating research across the social sciences through a cultural-evolutionary lens. After reviewing key distinctions in theory and method, we discuss research on norm psychology-the neural and cognitive underpinnings of social norm learning and acquisition. We then overview how norms emerge and spread through intergenerational transmission, social networks, and group-level ecological and historical factors. Next, we discuss multilevel factors that lead norms to persist, change, or erode over time. We also consider cultural mismatches that can arise when a changing environment leads once-beneficial norms to become maladaptive. Finally, we discuss potential future research directions and the implications of norm dynamics for theory and policy.
社会规范是社会凝聚在一起的纽带，但我们对它们的了解仍然严重局限于学术领域。本文通过文化进化的视角，整合了社会科学的研究，对规范动态这一新兴领域进行了跨学科综述。在回顾了理论和方法上的关键区别之后，我们讨论了规范心理学的研究——社会规范学习和习得的神经和认知基础。然后，我们概述了规范是如何通过代际传递、社会网络以及群体层面的生态和历史因素而出现和传播的。接下来，我们讨论了导致规范随时间推移而持续、改变或消失的多层次因素。我们还考虑了当环境变化导致曾经有益的规范变得适应不良时可能出现的文化不匹配问题。最后，我们讨论了潜在的未来研究方向以及规范动态对理论和政策的意义。
