The Formation of Social Norms

Social norms are “unwritten rules of beliefs, attitude and behaviours” that are regarded as acceptable by a certain social group or culture. These groups can be seen in friendships, workgroups and many other social settings. An individual’s behaviour will change depending on the social group that they are in. For example, the social norms in a workplace might be different from in a school setting. We develop norms because they teach us to behave, provide order and predictability in society (McLeod, 2008). Muzafer Sherif, a social psychologist, published his research on autokinetic illusion in 1935. He believed that culture and society was rooted in one’s consciousness which affected the way people perceived and understood the world. This inspired him to raise a few questions such as - what are social norms and how do they develop over time (Abrams & Levine, 2012).

According to Sherif (1936), he conducted an experiment using the Autokinetic Illusion (AKI) effect to study how people made sense of a stimulus without a guiding point. The autokinetic effect is an illusion whereby a point of light in a dark room moves spontaneously. He concluded that individuals established their own standard or norm when there were no other comparisons available. When individuals were grouped together, a new standard was formed in the group and any changes affected the group as a whole. Groups can influence individuals into having similar judgements and viewpoints. Standards in the group can continue to have an effect on individuals even when they are no longer a part of it (Abrams & Levine, 2012).

Sherif’s AKI experiment was a step forward in demonstrating the extent of group norms in individual testing, despite categorization and group membership possibly being based merely on arbitrary factors. The formation and maintenance of social norms allow for group members to experience a shared reality, which facilitates the occurrence of numerous group phenomena, such as transactive memory, group beliefs, and shared mental models. This not only influences group members to answer a problem similarly, but also serves to influence the thought process by which group members arrive at the solution (Abrams & Levine, 2012).

Despite how long ago the experiment took place, Sherif’s ideas have served to lay the groundwork for research on shared realities, intergroup conflict, and other such interpersonal studies. Sherif’s contributions have, without a doubt, furthered the horizons of group studies and processes, giving rise to various other studies and perspectives that continue to be relevant even today.

REFERENCES:

1. Abrams, D., & Levine, J. M. (2012). Norm formation: Revisiting Sherif’s autokinetic illusion study. In J. R. Smith & S. A. Haslam (EDs.), Psychology: Revisiting the classic studies. Social psychology: Revisiting the classic studies (p. 57-75). Sage Publications Ltd.

2. McLeod, S. A. (2008). Social roles. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-roles.html

3. Sherif, M. (1936). The psychology of social norms. Harper.