Social norms are the unwritten rules of acceptable behaviour that we follow in daily life. Social norms motivate us to follow social expectations. Social science shows how norms can be used to positively change behaviour.

Summary

• Social norms are the unwritten rules and assumptions that guide our behaviour. Norms tell us what is acceptable and unacceptable
• Descriptive norms are the observations and expectations of what everybody else does, and how to best fit in with the crowd
• Injunctive norms are the moral ideals of what we ought to do, especially to get approval from people closest to us, such as friends and family
• Social science can encourage people to do the right thing. Across industry, transport, justice, and other sectors, social norms empower people to help others, and seek support.

Social norms are unwritten rules that guide behaviour

Social norms are the shared, informal, and unwritten rules that shape our understanding of acceptable behaviour, and guide our everyday life. Norms include everything from etiquette (e.g. shaking hands), to how we express our emotions, to how we justify our actions.

Norms are learned through socialisation (that is, the process by which we learn about our society and identity, through our interactions, rewards, and sanctions from others).

Norms vary according to history and culture, telling us how to act in a specific time and place. They reflect customs (folkways), morality (mores), and “unthinkable” transgressions (taboos).

Norms are fundamentally social; they require “some degree of consensus, that are enforced through social sanctions” (p. 5, my emphasis). Lone individuals cannot simply invent new norms. Norms have three social characteristics:

1. We share and understand other people’s expectations (social cognition)
2. Learning and anticipating what’s expected of us, based on other people’s actions and emotional reactions to our behaviour (social feedback)
3. We tweak our behaviour based on our surroundings (social context)

We generally perceive ourselves to be typical and “normal,” often overestimating how much others agree with our ideas and behaviours (false consensus effect). Still, we are conditioned to seek social approval and conform to the norm, often looking to others to guide our actions, including in unfamiliar or arbitrary settings.

Norms function as a form of social control. Norms are “group-level evaluations of behaviour.” They set social expectations that maintain order and regulate our behaviour, through social enforcement. That is, we are praised for following norms (e.g. having “good” manners), and sanctioned for breaking them (e.g. being scolded for littering).

Social norms reproduce inequality, as powerful groups enforce norms that serve their interests (such as racist sanctions targeting Black women’s hair in the workplace).

Descriptive norms

Descriptive norms are the typical patterns of behaviour and what to expect, based on our observations of other people’s overt actions. Descriptive norms are what we see, hear, and feel happens in daily life. Descriptive norms rely on three processes:

• Perception: What we think we see in others. E.g. How many people do something
• Direct and indirect communication: Our understanding of what others say, their body language, and signs in the environment
• Popularity and the desire to be accepted: We want to be recognised for doing ‘the right thing’

Injunctive norms

Injunctive norms are the prescriptive moral rules of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Injunctive norms are assessed in relation to reference groups—people like ourselves, whom we use to compare our standards and evaluate behaviour (e.g. family, friends, ethnic group, gender, and occupation). Injunctive norms also change according to specific settings (e.g. what’s acceptable at home may not be okay at work). Injunctive norms rely on:

• Morality: “What ought to happen”
• Expectation: What we think others want from us, and what we can get away with, even in the absence of other people watching us
• Social sanctions for noncompliance: We want approval from others, and seek to avoid condemnation. The extent to which others would approve or disapprove of our actions heavily influences our behaviour

Norms are distinct from, but informed by, beliefs, values, and attitudes (see Text Box 1).

Text Box 1: What is the difference between norms, beliefs, values, and attitudes?

Beliefs are collective ideas that we use to make sense of the world around us, and to judge what we hold real or true about our social reality. Beliefs are fundamentally social: they are rooted in culture, they create meaning and social organisation, they require commitment and social validation, they anchor us to a broader group, and they create a shared logic. Beliefs are relatively stable, but are informed by our experiences (that is, systematic and interrelated). For example, capitalism is underpinned by beliefs about the morality of work, profit, and economic progress. Beliefs are deeply-held and do not need material evidence. In some cases, beliefs are resistant to evidence (see case study 1 below).

Values are the principles guiding preferable or desirable actions. They influence our perceptions, motivations, and ideals about what is “good and bad” or “right and wrong.” Values are the relative worth we place on specific ideals and actions over others, while norms are the expression of values as verbal and nonverbal behaviours.

Attitudes are a “relatively enduring” set of beliefs that predispose individuals towards particular preferences (p.134). This might be general feelings or statements, which are expressed as positive, negative, or neutral judgements.

Social norms can positively change behaviour

I’ve previously shown how social norms are useful in many sectors. The trick is knowing which social norms to evoke, when, and how. Below are some examples.

• Increasing compliance at work
• Improving online services
• Encouraging altruistic behaviour during emergencies
• Supporting vulnerable people join a justice program.
• Enticing people to give help the needy on public transport

Trades

I worked with an agency to increase employers’ compliance with supervision requirements for apprentices and trainees.

My team drew on descriptive norms to show employers that helping their apprentices and trainees is more common than letting them struggle:

“9 out of 10 supervisors spend at least one hour on the job talking about safety with their apprentices”

Business

I worked with an organisation to improve sign-up of their online employment register.

We used descriptive norms to set expectations about the service that align with the clients’ needs, such as a quick response from employers.

“Most clients hear from employers within 14 days.”

Agriculture

I worked with an agency to entice drought-affected farmers and businesses who were impacted by the drought, and who had recently completed a subsidised skills-training program, to complete a survey.

We used injunctive norms, appealing to prosocial behaviour following an emergency disaster:

“You can help students and employers affected by drought to get the help they need.”

Justice

I worked with a policy department to redesigning rehabilitation programs, and reduce the stigma of signing up.

We used injunctive norms to recommend a behaviourally-informed screening tool to assist case management. We encouraged the department to consider culturally-relevant questions and measures to meet the needs of diverse clients.

Transport

I wrote about an advertising campaign encouraging people to give up their seat on crowded trains to pregnant, disabled, and elderly passengers.

This billboard appealed to injunctive norms about prosocial behaviour:

“Some reasons for needing a seat are harder to spot than others.”

Table 1: Desired behaviours, social norms, and behavioural messages

Sector	Desired behaviour	Social norm	Message
Trades	Increasing compliance with supervision requirements for apprentices and trainees	Descriptive	“9 out of 10 supervisors spend at least one hour on the job talking about safety with their apprentices”
Business	Improving sign-up of an employment register	Descriptive	“Most clients hear from employers within 14 days”
Agriculture	Enticing drought-affected farmers and businesses to complete a survey	Injunctive	“You can help students and employers affected by drought to get the help they need”
Justice	Redesigning rehabilitation programs	Injunctive	Reduce the stigma of signing up. Use a behaviourally-informed screening tool and culturally-relevant questions
Transport	Encouraging people to give up their seat on crowded trains	Injunctive	“Some reasons for needing a seat are harder to spot than others”

How social science helps

• Social science theories help organisations understand the power of social norms. This includes finding relevant studies that have successfully used norms to change behaviour. Social science can adapt interventions to the local context.
• Social science methods help organisations map out their clients’ problems, and scope potential solutions. For example, how to match descriptive and injunctive norms to the desired outcome, and designing effective evaluations to test behavioural change.