Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social norms and how they impact behaviour

There is wide interest in the social norms construct across psychology, economics, law and social marketing. Now a study investigates an important missing piece in the social norms’ puzzle: what is the underlying process that explains how norms impact behaviour? The answer: self–other similarity (self-categorization) and internalization.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Hallsworth, M. et al. Lancet 387, 1743–1752 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Nolan, J. M., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J. & Griskevicius, V. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 34, 913–923 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Reynolds, K. J., Subasic, E. & Tindall, K. Soc. Pers. Psychol. Compass 9, 45–56 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cialdini, R. B. Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade 1st edn (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2016).

  5. Turner, J. C. & Reynolds, K. J. in Handbook of Theories in Social Psychology (eds Van Lange, P., Kruglanski, A. & Higgins, T.) 399–417 (Sage, Thousand Oaks, 2012).

  6. Reynolds, K. J. & Branscombe, N. R. in The Psychology of Change: Life Contexts, Experiences, and Identities (eds Reynolds, K. J. & Branscombe, N. R.) 265–281 (Psychology Press, London, 2015).

  7. Pryor, C., Perfors, A. & Howe, P. D. L. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/s41562-018-0489-y (2018).

  8. Turner, J. C. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 35, 1–22 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nyborg, K. et al. Science 354, 42–43 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katherine J. Reynolds.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Reynolds, K.J. Social norms and how they impact behaviour. Nat Hum Behav 3, 14–15 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0498-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0498-x

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing