Breaking the rules: Personal and social responses to coping norm‐violations

Abstract

Two studies examined the personal and social responses to coping behavior that was expected to violate two basic social norms regulating appropriate coping: to intervene in stressful situations that are controllable and to accept stressful situations that are uncontrollable. Study 1 explored the extent to which norm‐violating coping, reported by 400 participants, met with personal and social disapproval. The majority of the observers were reported to disapprove of both types of norm violations. The actors tended to disapprove of nonintervention, but approved of non‐acceptance. In Study 2, 111 participants indicated the extent to which they disapproved of and negatively sanctioned norm‐breaking coping behavior depicted in hypothetical scenarios. The participants tended to disapprove of and negatively sanction non‐intervention more strongly than non‐acceptance. They also showed a general disregard for the actor's personal perspective. Implications of the findings for the concept of coping norms and its role in coping research are discussed.