Effects Of Group Norms Research Articles

Factors influencing college students' online rumor refuting behavior during major public health crises: the moderating effect of group norms.

This study integrates SOR (Stimuli-Organism-Response) theoretical framework and rational behavior theory within a theoretical framework, incorporating group norms as a moderating factor to investigate the psychological mechanisms influencing Chinese college students' online rumor-refutation behavior amidst public health crises. Using the structural equation modeling research method, data was collected via questionnaires from 1,254 participants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that both online and offline information seeking are positively correlated with college students' attitudes and subjective norms. Moreover, the attitudes and subjective norms of college students are positively correlated with the online rumor refuting behavior. Furthermore, group norms serve to strengthen the connection between college students' attitudes and their engagement in online refuting rumors. These results illuminate the psychological underpinnings driving college students' online rumor-refuting actions, offering practical and policy implications for effectively managing rumor behaviors.

An Agent-based Model of the Effects of Group Norms and Project Identification on Construction Workers’ Safety Behavior

An Agent-based Model of the Effects of Group Norms and Project Identification on Construction Workers’ Safety Behavior

Understanding German farmer\u2019s intention to adopt mixed cropping using the theory of planned behavior

The diversification of cropping systems has the potential to contribute towards a sustainable land use while preserving biodiversity. Mixed cropping is one possibility to increase biodiversity within farming systems. However, adoption of mixed cropping systems is challenging for farmers, as the agricultural sector has evolved around pure stands over the past decades and path dependencies have emerged. Yet, little is known about farmers’ motivation to adopt mixed cropping. Utilizing the theory of planned behavior as the main framework, this paper studies the psychological factors underlying farmers’ intention to adopt mixed cropping based on an online survey with 172 German farmers. In addition, the most crucial adoption obstacles are assessed. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, we show for the first time that attitude, perceived behavioral control, and injunctive as well as descriptive group norms explain over 52% of farmers’ intention to adopt mixed cropping. Our results also demonstrate that perceived ecological benefits positively influence a farmer’s attitude towards mixed cropping. Missing sales opportunities for mixed yields, the uneven maturing of crops, and deficient economic benefits are ranked as the most crucial obstacles for the implementation of mixed cropping. These results, which can be relevant for other European countries as well, indicate that the introduction of a voluntary agri-environmental scheme could encourage adoption and that considering positive effects of group norms within policy schemes could further increase adoption on a large scale.

Looking forward to going back? The experience of career decision-making for first-time mothers and the implications for coaches

The career penalty for professional women who become mothers is well known, while research scrutiny of career decision-making itself appears to have been largely overlooked. This study explores the experience of six London-based professional women, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) techniques to develop insights into the high-commitment behaviours which underpin female professional career identity; the effects of group norms, cultural messages and employer practices on women’s decision-making; and, the solitary experience of establishing new narratives as a professional mother. It develops insights and implications for organisations and the coaching profession, to better support new mothers with their career decisions.

Social Influence of Group Norms Developed by Human-Robot Groups

Several studies on how social robots respond, gesture, and display emotion in human-robot interactions have been conducted. In particular, sociality of robots implies that robots do not only exhibit human-like behaviors, but also display a tendency to adapt to a group of individuals. For robots to exhibit sociality, they need to adapt to group norms without telling them how to behave by the group members. In this study, we investigated the effect of group norms on human decision-making in human-robot groups, which comprise two robots using our proposed robotic model. Furthermore, we conducted quizzes with the robots and a human participant using unclear and vague answers. We assessed this influence by making the participant and the two robots repeat a set of actions: to answer the same quiz and recognize each answer of the group members. Additionally, we evaluated the extent to which the group norms changed the opinions of humans using a questionnaire. We analyzed the results of the questionnaire and chronological change in their answers for the quiz with the same question. The quiz experimental results showed that the human participants changed their answers after they discovered the answers of the robots for the first time due to social influence from the robots assumed that the human participants were confused about the diversity of the answers in the group and were aware of the consideration of the robots of the group norm. This is to ensure that they can adjust their answers to the group norm. Moreover, the questionnaire results revealed that the group norms gave the human participants right answers to the quiz that has no correct answers. Therefore, we concluded that robots attempt to comply with a group norm affects human's decision-making.

A social identity approach to explaining children's aggressive intentions

This study explored the effects of group norms, intra-group position, and age on the direct and indirect aggressive intentions of 247 children (aged 5.50 to 11.83years). Participants were assigned to a team, with team norms (aggression vs. helping) and the child's position within the team (prototypical vs. peripheral–prototypical vs. peripheral) manipulated. Results showed that children in the aggressive norm condition reported greater aggressive intentions than those in the helping norm condition, although, when age was considered, this effect remained evident for younger, but not older, children. Similarly, intra-group position influenced the aggressive intentions of younger children only. For these children, when group norms supported aggression, prototypical members and peripheral members who anticipated a future prototypical position reported greater aggressive intentions than peripheral members who were given no information about their future position. The implications of these findings for understanding childhood aggression, and for intervention, are discussed.

Children's social groups and intergroup prejudice: Assessing the influence and inhibition of social group norms

A simulation group study examined whether the effects of group norms on 7- and 9-year-old children's intergroup attitudes can be moderated by a contrary school norm. Children learnt that their school had an inclusion norm, were assigned to a group with an outgroup inclusion or exclusion norm, and indicated their ingroup and outgroup attitudes under teacher surveillance or not. Results revealed reduced outgroup liking when the group had an exclusion norm, but that the effect was moderated when the school had an inclusion norm, especially among the older children. The participants' ingroup liking was also reduced, but teacher surveillance had no effect on attitudes. The findings are discussed in relation to possible strategies to moderate social group norm effects.

Group norms, media preferences, and group meeting success: A longitudinal study

Group norms are known to have an effect on group meeting success. But to what extent do these norms affect choice of media for communication of group members, and what role does this effect play, if any, in group meeting success? This paper empirically examines these questions. It takes a novel approach in considering these questions longitudinally to investigate the importance of the formation and affect of norms over time. The study presented here showed that group norms do influence group member media preference and that, over time, these effects grow stronger. Furthermore, a strong positive association between the similarity of group media preferences and group meeting success is revealed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance and implications of understanding the effect of group norms on technology use and meeting success.

Effects of Group Norms on Children's Intentions to Bully

AbstractA minimal group study examined the effect of peer group norms on children's direct and indirect bullying intentions. Prior to an inter‐group drawing competition, children (N = 85) aged seven and nine years were assigned to a group that had a norm of out‐group dislike or out‐group liking. Results indicated that, regardless of group norms, the children's attitudes were more positive towards the in‐group vs. the out‐group. Children's bullying intentions were greater when the in‐group had a norm of out‐group dislike vs. out‐group liking, the children were younger rather than older, and the bullying was indirect vs. direct. A three‐way interaction showed that the in‐group norms had a larger effect on the younger children's direct rather than indirect bullying intentions, but a larger effect on the older children's indirect rather than direct bullying intentions. Implications for understanding school bullying intentions and behaviour are discussed.

Bullying and social identity: The effects of group norms and distinctiveness threat on attitudes towards bullying

Drawing from social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), an experiment was carried out to determine the extent to which children's attitudes towards bullying could be moderated by in‐group norms and perceived threat to group distinctiveness. The study investigated the responses of 120 male primary school students aged 10‐13 years from five schools. The children read a story about a popular in‐group and an unpopular out‐group which involved the manipulation of three variables: the norms of the in‐group (bullying vs. fairness); distinctiveness threat (out‐group similarity vs. out‐group difference); and the behaviour of the in‐group character towards the out‐group character (bullying vs. helpful). It was predicted that a perceived threat to group distinctiveness, represented by similarity between the in‐group and the out‐group, and salient group norms that prescribed either bullying or fairness, would moderate the acceptability of bullying behaviours. Two story response measures were analysed: in‐group character liking and whether the in‐group character would be retained as a group member following his behaviour. The strongest support for social identity theory was revealed in the retention of in‐group character variable. The in‐group character was much more likely to have been retained as a group member when he behaved in accordance with group norms. Evidence was also found that bullying was more acceptable when directed at an out‐group member who was similar and therefore possibly represented a threat to the in‐group.

Attitude-behaviour relations: the role of in-group norms and mode of behavioural decision-making.

Two experiments provided support for the central hypothesis--derived from social identity/self-categorization theories--that attitudes would be most likely to predict behaviour when they were supported by a congruent in-group norm. In the first experiment, norm congruency and mode of behavioural decision-making (spontaneous or deliberative) were orthogonally manipulated in a between-subjects study of career choice in psychology. Participants exposed to an attitudinally congruent in-group norm towards their preferred career choice were more likely to display attitude-behaviour consistency than those exposed to an attitudinally inconsistent group norm, an effect that was evident under both spontaneous and deliberative decision-making conditions. Using a mock jury paradigm, Expt 2 replicated and extended the first experiment by including a manipulation of in-group salience. As predicted, participants exposed to an incongruent norm displayed greater attitude-behaviour inconsistency than those exposed to a congruent norm. Contrary to predictions, this effect did not vary as a function of group salience, nor did the effects of group norms for high and low salience participants vary as a function of mode of behavioural decision-making. However, there was evidence that perceived identification with the group moderated the influence of norms on attitude-behaviour consistency.

Group Norms and the Attitude-Behavior Relationship: A Role for Group Identification

Two studies provided support for the proposal that the role of norms in attitude-behavior relations can be usefully reconceptualized from the perspective of social identity/self-categorization theory. The first study revealed that the perceived norms of a behaviorally relevant reference group influenced intentions to engage in regular exercise, but only for subjects who identified strongly with the group, whereas the effect of perceived behavioral control (a personal factor) was strongest for low identifiers. Similarly, Study 2 revealed that the effect of group norms on females' intentions to engage in sun-protective behavior was evident only for high identifiers and that the effects of one of the personal variables (attitude) was stronger for low than for high identifiers. Additional results revealed that the perceived group norm predicted subjects' attitude, as did the perceived consequences of performing the behavior. The latter result was evident only for low identifiers.

Effects of Group Norms and Learning on Unethical Decision Behavior

This research evaluated ethical decision-making behavior under two different contingencies. When 87 students were presented the “fact” that 20% of the salesmen permitted kickbacks, their subsequent ethical behavior was lower than when they were informed that 80% of the salesmen provided kickbacks. Persons scoring high on Machiavellianism were also less ethical.

Effects of Group Norms and Goal Setting on Productivity

The present research investigated the effects of goal assignment and coworker feedback on the goal level set, and the effects of number of coworkers on quantity of production. Results indicated that the effects of goal setting are moderated by the presence of group norms. This finding can easily be incorporated into goal theory. However, contrary to expectations, subjects who were assigned the average of the self-set goals coded significantly more data than subjects who set their own goals. Moreover, neither of these means differed signifi cantly from that generated by subjects who had been assigned a specific hard goal set by the experimenter. Social comparison theory proved usefulfor explaining all the results obtained, including those that appeared to be inconsistent with previous findings.

The Effect of Group Norms on Bystander Intervention

(1971). The Effect of Group Norms on Bystander Intervention. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 265-273.