Deutchman Paul, Kraft-Todd Gordon, Young Liane, McAuliffe Katherine
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2025 Jan;128(1):1-18. doi: 10.1037/pspa0000416. Epub 2024 Nov 11.
How do descriptive norms shape injunctive norm beliefs, and what does this tell us about the cognitive processes underlying social norm cognition? Across six studies ( = 2,671), we examined whether people update their injunctive norm beliefs-as well as their moral judgments and behavioral intentions-after receiving descriptive norm information about how common (or uncommon) a behavior is. Specifically, we manipulated the descriptive normativity of behaviors, describing behaviors as uncommon (20% of people were doing the behavior) or common (80% of people were doing the behavior), and the type of behavior across studies (fairness, conventional, harm, preference). To measure belief updating, we assessed beliefs prior to and after receiving information about the descriptive norm. We had three main findings: First, participants positively updated their prior injunctive norm beliefs, moral judgments, and behavioral intentions (i.e., rated behaviors more injunctively normative and moral) after receiving a common descriptive norm and negatively updated their beliefs (i.e., rated behaviors less injunctive and moral) after receiving an uncommon descriptive norm, and updated to a larger extent for the common than uncommon descriptive norm. Second, participants were more likely to update their beliefs about what is moral for compared to what is moral for the . Third, participants updated their beliefs to a greater extent for fairness and conventional behaviors compared to harm behaviors and preferences. Together, our findings suggest that descriptive norms shape our injunctive norm beliefs and moral judgments and help to paint a fuller picture of the social cognition of social norms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
描述性规范如何塑造指令性规范信念，这又能告诉我们关于社会规范认知背后的认知过程的哪些信息呢？在六项研究（N = 2671）中，我们考察了人们在接收到关于某种行为有多常见（或不常见）的描述性规范信息后，是否会更新他们的指令性规范信念以及道德判断和行为意图。具体而言，我们操纵了行为的描述性规范性，将行为描述为不常见（20%的人在做该行为）或常见（80%的人在做该行为），并在各项研究中改变行为的类型（公平、常规、伤害、偏好）。为了测量信念更新，我们在接收关于描述性规范的信息之前和之后评估信念。我们有三个主要发现：第一，参与者在接收到常见描述性规范后，会积极更新他们先前的指令性规范信念、道德判断和行为意图（即对行为的指令性规范性和道德性评价更高），而在接收到不常见描述性规范后会消极更新他们的信念（即对行为的指令性和道德性评价更低），并且与不常见描述性规范相比，对常见描述性规范的更新程度更大。第二，与对他人而言什么是道德的信念相比，参与者更有可能更新他们对自己而言什么是道德的信念。第三，与伤害行为和偏好相比，参与者对公平和常规行为的信念更新程度更大。总之，我们的研究结果表明，描述性规范塑造了我们的指令性规范信念和道德判断，并有助于更全面地描绘社会规范的社会认知情况。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
