Question

How do societal rules influence behavior?

Answer 1

A social norm is a regulation or expectancy that dominates peoples morals, beliefs, actions, attitudes and behaviours. These regulations are expected of individuals in certain places and settings, and are therefore utilised to lead individual behaviour which determines what is considered appropriate or inappropriate. It could be argued that those who are accused of breaking the norms are seen as ‘abnormal’. Consequently, failure to maintain regulations can result in severe punishments. For example, being an outcast from society, lack of friends, as well as a lack of social development. It is also important to consider that the nature of behaviour and accuracy of social norms perceptions are both important when developing changing behaviours. However, it could be argued that norms influence individuals in different ways as everyone has different attitudes and levels of persuasion, what may be seen as influential and appealing to some groups of society, may not appeal to others.