Perceptions Of Norms Research Articles

Do Human Assertions Really Adhere Strictly to Norms? The Effect of Threatening Content in Information on Personalized Norm Perception.

Assertion is the use of declarative sentences to convey information, which necessitates meeting the "justified-belief norm" as a prerequisite. However, a significant amount of misinformation that did not meet these conditions was spread during COVID-19, leading to a reintroduction of the assertion norm. One possible hypothesis is that the threatening content of the misinformation influenced the perception of the norm. However, this remains unclear to researchers. Therefore, we conducted two experiments to investigate the effect of threatening content in information on individuals' perceptions of norms. In all the experiments, participants read backstories with and without threatening content, followed by answering assertion questions. It was observed that people do follow a looser assertion norm for information that contains threatening content. Additionally, further exploration revealed that threatening factors also lead individuals to more easily perceive the related content as truth and reduce the probability of being blamed. These two outcomes provide some explanation for the underlying mechanism of threatening factors' influence. The research results further refined the theory of assertion norms, offering a certain basis for information management.

The effect of Philosophy for Children (P4C) activities on the development of moral perception and social rules of preschool children

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of P4C implementations on children's perceptions of moral and social rules. The study was carried out with a total of 48 children aged five years old, 23 of them in the experimental group and 25 of them in the control group, attending a public school in the 2023–2024 academic years. A quasi-experimental design was used in the research, and the fully mixed sequential equal status design, one of the mixed research typologies, was applied. The Preschool Children's Conceptions of Moral and Social Rules Scale was applied in the quantitative dimension of the research, and observation, interviews, and anecdotal records constituted the qualitative data collection dimension. Briefly, after the implementation process, the experimental group's perception of moral and social norms improved. In the current study, a substantial difference between the children's moral rule and social rule perceptions after the P4C sessions was discovered when the experimental group's moral rule and social rule perception scale scores were analyzed before and after the implementation. A noticeable improvement in cognitive and social-emotional development was seen. It was determined that positive behaviors improved, particularly in moral situations requiring tolerance, in the experimental group. The study came to the conclusion that teaching children philosophy helps them enhance their critical thinking skills.

Let’s Talk About Condoms: Social Engagement in a Sexual Health Intervention Targeting Young Adults in Denmark

Objectives We tested whether social activities and interactions as part of a condom campaign strengthened young adults’ condom-use intentions and normative perceptions of condoms compared to simple exposure to campaign information. Method Data from 3,041 young adults collected after four annual condom campaigns were analyzed and combined into a meta-analysis. Results Interaction about the campaign and engagement in campaign-related activities was associated with higher condom use intention and more positive pro-condom norms. Conclusions The authors call for a greater emphasis on social influence in youth-aimed sexual health campaigns. Implications for the research are discussed.

Applying Expectancy-Value Theory to Understand Investment Interest in the Young Generation

This study aims to explore the investment interest of students at Universitas Negeri Makassar (UNM) through the lens of Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). The research examines how students' expectations and perceived value influence their interest in investing. Data were collected from a sample of UNM students, and the findings indicate that both expectancy and value have a positive and significant impact on their investment interest. This suggests that enhancing students' expectations and perceptions of the value of investment could lead to a greater interest in investing. The study employed a quantitative approach using SPSS for data analysis. The results reveal that students' investment decisions are strongly influenced by their perceptions of task difficulty, effort, behavioral attitudes, and subjective norms. Additionally, motivation and self-confidence play crucial roles in shaping their investment interest. These findings have important implications for educational strategies, highlighting the need to foster a supportive environment that builds students' confidence and enhances their understanding of the benefits of investing. By doing so, educators can encourage students to develop a stronger interest in and commitment to investment activities.

Shifts in Heteronormative and Gender Normative Perceptions among Students at a South African University: A Decade Later

Shifts in Heteronormative and Gender Normative Perceptions among Students at a South African University: A Decade Later

Shifting the affective narrative: atmospheres as solicitations to alter situational emotion scripts

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, the notion of affective affordances has gained some prominence, particularly in the context of 4E approaches to affectivity. One example of affective affordances, mostly mentioned in passing in 4E approaches to affectivity, are atmospheres. Notoriously difficult to pin down in general, it has so far also remained unclear what distinguishes atmospheres from other affective affordances and whether they are a distinctive type of solicitations. Intuitively, the atmosphere of a situation implies an affect-regulatory profile different to what and how single objects solicit. Notably, as affective frames of sociocultural delineated situations they are relevant for coordinating social interactions and modulate personal concerns pertaining to a given situation. In accordance with paradigm cases of experiencing atmospheres, I will claim that they make salient how one is affectively disposed toward situation-specific feeling norms. I will clarify this claim by drawing on the concepts of social and emotion scripts as they have been developed in cognitive psychology and psychology of emotions. Atmospheres will thus be understood as solicitations to change situational emotion scripts. In this way, they represent a distinct avenue for changing fields of affordances over time, based on personal concerns for social and cultural belonging. Conversely, this account sheds light on the affective underpinnings of the perception of social norms.

How Did Telecommuting Fathers Navigate Work and Family Responsibilities During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The global outbreak of COVID-19 abruptly upended work and family life. Yet, little is known about how fathers combined paid and unpaid labor during this unprecedented historical period. Drawing on 35 semi-structured interviews with fathers who primarily telecommuted from home, I identify four strategies fathers used to combine paid and domestic labor: interim primary caregiving, egalitarian tag-teaming, transitional tag-teaming, and hands-on traditional fathering. Findings suggest that these work-family strategies primarily depended on wives’ physical presence in the home. The fathers who described doing the most domestic labor said their wives worked outside of the home. When wives were physically present in the home, fathers’ domestic behavior varied by the extent to which they endorsed the new fatherhood ideal—defining good fathering as involvement in both paid and domestic labor. Yet, change in fathers’ domestic behavior was limited. None of the fathers I interviewed described doing most of the domestic labor when their wives were physically present at home. Taken together, fathers’ domestic behavior depends on wives’ physical presence in the home and their normative perception of men’s responsibility to the family, suggesting that fathers do not perceive domestic time availability simply by differences in the couple’s paid work hours.

The impact of entrepreneurship education on students’ desirability and intentions to pursue an entrepreneurial career: a study in general and vocational secondary schools of Cabo Verde

This study aims to evaluate the impact of the Entrepreneurship Curriculum Programme (ECP) on students' entrepreneurial attitudes, perception of social norms and entrepreneurial intentions. This programme was implemented in upper-secondary level classes in Cabo Verde. The study also assesses if the programme has different impacts in different years of schooling and the mediating role of personal factors (gender and family models), teaching factors (differences between general and vocational education) and contextual factors (different island). The research was conducted on six islands in 4 vocational schools and 8 schools of general studies. The research compared the results of two groups: one with 947 students who attended ECP and the other with 1140 students who did not. The findings reveal that ECP impacts all the dimensions considered, the effect is differentiated throughout schooling and that other factors affect students' entrepreneurial attitudes, beliefs and intentions. From the theoretical point of view, the study reinforces the knowledge about the impact of education in entrepreneurship in contexts where there are still few studies—the context of developing countries and the context of secondary education. From a practical point of view, the study provides indications for deepening/improving the design and implementation of entrepreneurship education programmes.

A study on female Korean university students’ perception of male’s role

This study investigates the perceptions of men held by female students in a Korean university, a place where the most liberal and exploratory discussions unfold. The study aims to examine how women perceive male’s role in Korea, and thus, employs Q-methodology to understand the different types of perception of male’s role. According to the results, there are a total of four types of perception: type I “dualistic norm perception,” type II “superiority perception,” type III “subjective perception,” and type IV “gender-balanced perception.” When comparing the aforementioned outcomes to feminist phase theory, type I overlaps with phase 3 of duality, and type II manifests characteristics of both the male-defined phase 1 of male dominance and phase 2 of contribution. In reality, however, the gender-balanced phase can be seen as extremely rare in the Korean society that embraces heterosexual norms. Nevertheless, the fact that type IV balanced gender is apparent in some female university students can be interpreted as an indication of change of perception toward the other sex role in Korean society.

Food availability, perceived food environment and social norm perceptions of healthy and vegetarian food consumption at a public music festival in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo gain insight into the food availability, the perceived food environment, and social norm perceptions in favour of healthy and vegetarian food consumption at a festival.DesignTwo cross-sectional substudies were conducted...

Neural Tracking of Perceived Parent, but Not Peer, Norms Is Associated with Longitudinal Changes in Adolescent Attitudes about Externalizing Behaviors.

Adolescents' perceptions of parent and peer norms about externalizing behaviors influence the extent to which they adopt similar attitudes, yet little is known about how the trajectories of perceived parent and peer norms are related to trajectories of personal attitudes across adolescence. Neural development of midline regions implicated in self-other processing may underlie developmental changes in parent and peer influence. Here, we examined whether neural processing of perceived parent and peer norms in midline regions during self-evaluations would be associated with trajectories of personal attitudes about externalizing behaviors. Trajectories of adolescents' perceived parent and peer norms were examined longitudinally with functional neuroimaging (n = 165; ages 11-16 years across three waves; 86 girls, 79 boys; 29.7% White, 21.8% Black, 35.8% Latinx, 12.7% other/multiracial). Behavioral results showed perceived parent norms were less permissive than adolescents' own attitudes about externalizing behaviors, whereas perceived peer norms were more permissive than adolescents' own attitudes, effects that increased from early to middle adolescence. Although younger adolescents reported less permissive attitudes when they spontaneously tracked perceived parent norms in the ventromedial and medial pFCs during self-evaluations, this effect weakened as they aged. No brain-behavior effects were found when tracking perceived peer norms. These findings elucidate how perceived parent and peer norms change in parallel with personal attitudes about externalizing behaviors from early to middle adolescence and underscore the importance of spontaneous neural tracking of perceived parent norms during self-evaluations for buffering permissive personal attitudes, particularly in early adolescence.

Harnessing Dialogue as a Social Technology for Systems Change in Development Institutions

Across global development discourse and practice can be seen a growing a recognition that deep transformation of social, economic and ecological systems cannot be achieved through new policies, data or technology alone. The capabilities needed for 21st century leadership and governance relate to the ability to create new conditions, relationships and pathways for social and moral imagination to flourish. Drawing from an in-depth case study of several interlinked initiatives of the United Nations Development Programme to build such capabilities among development practitioners, this conceptual paper elaborates the continued need for, and pathways and barriers to institutionalizing, more dialogic- and process-based approaches to systems transformation in mainstream development processes. It posits that a reconceptualization of dialogue within multilateral and government-led systems transformation frameworks in particular can help valorize the seeds of development impact that reside in the sites where culture, relationships and shared consciousness are built. Further learning is needed, however, to understand and address barriers that lie in normative perceptions, organizational culture, and accountability frameworks of these institutions, which impede the rhetorical interest in inclusive and transformative dialogue from translating to more process- and relationship-centric ways of working. As a contribution to this learning, the paper considers how conceptual frames that give weight and visibility to the role of social containers in systems change processes, with dialogue as a core technology for container-building, canhelp advance more transformative development paradigms and praxis that tend to the reciprocal relationships between inner change and societal change.

RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF MORAL GAZE ON TOURISTS' ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR

Tourists construct and consume tourist destinations through the tourist gaze. Simultaneously, their behaviors are exposed to the gaze of bystanders, whose “moral” gaze can be transformed into silent comments that condemn or praise, placing tourists under invisible moral surveillance and regulating their behaviors. This paper attempts to study the influence of moral gaze on tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior by initiating an experiment. The findings reveal that tourists’ self-consciousness is awakened after being influenced by moral gaze, and their perception of social norms is improved. The mechanism of reputation management and normative activation prompts tourists to consciously modify their own behavior. Through this study, it is hoped that the findings will contribute to the formulation of ecological management policies in tourism destinations.

School psychologists' perceptions, roles, and training regarding sexual health education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities

AbstractDespite research indicating evidence‐based sexual health education results improved student outcomes, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) do not typically receive sexual health education. While school psychologists possess skills that could contribute to sexual health education for students with I/DD, there is no existing research on this topic. To address this, we conducted a survey of school psychologists in a state in the Southeastern United States regarding their attitudes, perceptions of social norm and self‐efficacy, and training and familiarity in regard to sexual health education for students with I/DD. The survey's focus and design were guided by the Reasoned Action Approach. Data collection and analyzes addressed (a) the underlying structure and internal consistency of our survey's scales; (b) school psychologists' level of training, knowledge, and beliefs about implementing sexual health education programs with students with I/DD; and (c) the relationship between school psychologists' previous training, knowledge, and beliefs and their implementation of and advocacy for sexual health education for students with I/DD. Descriptive statistics, principal component analyzes, and multiple regression were used to summarize the data and address the research questions. Data from the multiple regression analysis indicated that a significant amount of the variance in participants' implementation/advocacy scores was explained by attitude, social norms, behavioral control/self‐efficacy, and training/familiarity. Our findings suggest that school psychologists' engagement in implementation of and advocacy for sexual health education for students with I/DD can be influenced by level of training and knowledge and perceived capability and behavioral control.

Assessing Tobacco Treatment Engagement in Assertive Community Treatment Programs.

Despite high tobacco use prevalence among those with serious mental illnesses, few Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs provide tobacco treatment. Understanding the factors associated with the intentions to engage in tobacco treatment from both provider and consumer perspectives is important. The purpose was to examine ACT providers' intention to provide and consumer intention to engage in tobacco treatment. A cross-sectional survey of ACT program providers (N = 51) and consumers (N = 43) from four community mental health centers. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine factors associated with the intentions to provide or engage in tobacco treatment from among attitudinal, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control variables. Providers reported positive attitudes, high degree of perceived behavior control, and high intentions for delivering tobacco treatment, but poor perceptions of subjective norms. These results were like consumers' intentions to engage in tobacco treatment. In regression analysis, only subjective norms and perceived behavior control were significant predictors for providers' intentions to provide tobacco treatment, but there were no significant predictors of consumers' intentions to engage in tobacco treatment. Both providers and consumers endorsed poor implementation of evidence-based tobacco treatment. Poor engagement in tobacco treatment within ACT programs indicates the need for policymakers to support tobacco treatment within the services. This finding calls for training of mental and behavioral health providers while supporting tobacco-free initiatives in ACT treatment service settings.

Intention to Adopt Cycling using the Modified Theory of Planned Behaviour

The popularity of cycling in Sri Lanka has been declining over the years, while its popularity as a form of micro-mobility is increasing in some countries. Efforts to encourage cycling should be based on a proper understanding of factors affecting the intention to cycle. This research uses modified Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to explore the extent to which four sociopsychological constructs, namely, attitude, perceived behaviour control (PBC), subjective norm (SN) and environmental perception influence the intention to cycle. Using a modified TPB-based questionnaire survey, data related to the intention to adopt cycling and four TPB constructs were collected and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis. PBC showed a strong positive effect while attitude and SN did not have a significant influence on the intention to cycle. Cycling supportive infrastructure availability in Sri Lanka is less and, hence, individuals’ perception on the environment was found to have a significant negative effect on the intention to adopt cycling. The findings of this research can inform policymakers and transport professionals in prioritizing strategies to enhance cycling in Sri Lanka in terms of improvements to cycling education, better cycling infrastructure and other programs of intervention.

Religious Fundamentalism and Perception of Group Norms as Predictors of Radical Action Intention

AbstractWe aimed at exploring the interplay between fundamentalism and perception of group norms in predicting willingness to join radical group actions. We conducted three studies in two countries to examine the relationship between religious fundamentalism (RF), general religiosity, and support for radical actions on behalf of various social movements. Three studies (N1 = 305, N2 = 251, and N3 = 137) show positive relation between religious fundamentalism and willingness to engage in radical action in favor of the right‐wing and antivaccine movements. The significant interaction between RF and perception of group norms has also been found: RF was linked to radical action intention at the high level of radical group norms’ perception. We discussed possible explanations of these results and future avenues for research.

Modification Mechanisms of Descriptive Norm Perceptions Toward Vaping: The Role of Behavior Prevalence and Group Size in an Online Setting

ABSTRACT We often rely on descriptive norm perceptions as a mental shortcut for decision making. However, less is known about how such perceptions are shaped and modified by our experiences in day-to-day life. The interactive nature of the current media environment offers opportunities for individuals to access others’ health behavior choices through online user-generated content. Within a setting of online comment boards, the current study examined the descriptive norm perception modification process toward vaping with a large-scale experiment that systematically varied levels of exposure to online commenters’ vaping behavior choice indications. Findings revealed a significant positive effect of behavior prevalence on descriptive norm perceptions, which in turn were positively associated with vaping intention. This set of results was observed only when a sufficient total amount of comment exposures was ensured. The study provided empirical evidence for the underlying mechanism of the “quasi-statistical sense,” which helps people draw conclusions about behavior prevalence and may influence their behavioral decision making. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The effect of third-party intervention on normative behavior of bystanders: An explanation of the social norm cueing effect

Third-party interventions play a crucial role in upholding social norms and have evolutionary implications for human societies. Nevertheless, research on the effects of third-party interventions, particularly third-party compensation, on bystanders' norm compliance remains scarce. We conducted two studies to explore how third-party interventions affect bystanders' adherence to social norms and the underlying mechanisms, focusing on the perception of social norms. Study 1 examined the effects of third-party interventions, presented as group summary information, on bystanders using the dictator game paradigm. The findings revealed that both third-party punishment and compensation positively affected bystanders' fairness, with norm perceptions serving as a mediating factor. Employing a similar paradigm to Study 1, Study 2 assessed the effect of third-party interventions conveyed through individual behavior information on bystanders. The results showed that the effect of third-party interventions on bystanders' fairness depended on how representative the interventions were perceived to be. We conclude that both third-party compensation and third-party punishment can encourage bystanders to conform to social norms by shaping their norm perceptions. The findings suggest a novel method for reinforcing social norms, potentially signaling a shift from retributive to restorative justice approaches.

Breastfeeding practices and social norms in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A qualitative study.

Breastfeeding has many benefits for both mothers and children. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. However, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, slightly under half of children under six months are exclusively breastfed. This study aimed to describe breastfeeding practices and to explore perceived social norms regarding breastfeeding among mothers in Kinshasa. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted in Kinshasa from June to July 2013. This study purposively sampled 54 mothers of infants aged 6 to 12 months, who participated in six focus group discussions. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the discussion guide explored infant feeding in the first six months, knowledge of breastfeeding, perception of the feasibility of exclusive breastfeeding, and perception of the social norms with regard to exclusive breastfeeding. The content analysis approach was used to analyse data. Mothers had good breastfeeding knowledge; however, few of them had practised exclusive breastfeeding as recommended during the first six months. Exclusive breastfeeding was considered unfeasible in their context. Barriers to exclusive breastfeeding were reported as baby's cries, social pressure, warm climate, and poor maternal diet. Social norms were supportive of breastfeeding but unfavourable to exclusive breastfeeding. In Kinshasa, mothers have a good knowledge of breastfeeding. However, few practise exclusive breastfeeding. Social pressure plays an important role in the cessation of exclusive breastfeeding before six months. In order to improve the practice of exclusive breastfeeding in this context, social and behaviour change programmes should target the entire population rather than mothers only.