A theoretical framework for social norm perception

Abstract

How do individuals learn and perceive social norms across situations and groups? We propose a three-stage process of social norm perception in which individuals first enter situations with a prior expectation of social norms that may apply, then they encounter and weigh norm information, and finally they integrate this norm information with their prior expectation. In addition, we discuss definitions of social norms, the motivations for learning social norms, and different categorization schemes for different types of norms based on content. This framework further suggests implications for when social norms should be more likely to be misperceived, and what kinds of social norm information should be most influential in one’s perception of the norm.