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Social Norms: Do We Love Norms Too Much?
Author(s) -
Bell David C.,
Cox Mary L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of family theory and review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.454
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1756-2589
pISSN - 1756-2570
DOI - 10.1111/jftr.12059
Subject(s) - normative , prosocial behavior , social psychology , normative social influence , psychology , action (physics) , test (biology) , subject (documents) , epistemology , computer science , paleontology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , library science
Social norms are often cited as the cause of many social phenomena, especially as an explanation for prosocial family and relationship behaviors. And yet maybe we love the idea of social norms too much, as suggested by our failure to subject them to rigorous test. Compared to the detail in social norms theoretical orientations, there is very little detail in tests of normative theories. To provide guidance to researchers who invoke social norms as explanations, we catalog normative orientations that have been proposed to account for consistent patterns of action. We call on researchers to conduct tests of normative theories and the processes such theories assert.