Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching
Three main motivations can explain compliance with social norms: fear of peer punishment, the desire for others’ esteem and the desire to meet others’ expectations. Though all play a role, only the desire to meet others’ expectations can sustain compliance when neither public nor private monitoring...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01413/full |
| _version_ | 1819267250204442624 |
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| author | Giulia eAndrighetto Giulia eAndrighetto Daniela eGrieco Luca eTummolini |
| author_facet | Giulia eAndrighetto Giulia eAndrighetto Daniela eGrieco Luca eTummolini |
| author_sort | Giulia eAndrighetto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Three main motivations can explain compliance with social norms: fear of peer punishment, the desire for others’ esteem and the desire to meet others’ expectations. Though all play a role, only the desire to meet others’ expectations can sustain compliance when neither public nor private monitoring is possible. Theoretical models have shown that such desire can indeed sustain social norms, but empirical evidence is lacking. Moreover it is unclear whether this desire ranges over others’ empirical or normative expectations. We propose a new experimental design to isolate this motivation and to investigate what expectations people are inclined to meet. Results indicate that, when nobody can assign either material or immaterial sanctions, the perceived legitimacy of others’ normative expectations can motivate a significant number of people to comply with costly social norms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T21:14:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8888c99aec44ec686ab85e4b68dc3bc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T21:14:11Z |
| publishDate | 2015-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8888c99aec44ec686ab85e4b68dc3bc2022-12-21T17:30:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-10-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.01413143005Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watchingGiulia eAndrighetto0Giulia eAndrighetto1Daniela eGrieco2Luca eTummolini3Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR)European University Institute (EUI)Bocconi UniversityInstitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR)Three main motivations can explain compliance with social norms: fear of peer punishment, the desire for others’ esteem and the desire to meet others’ expectations. Though all play a role, only the desire to meet others’ expectations can sustain compliance when neither public nor private monitoring is possible. Theoretical models have shown that such desire can indeed sustain social norms, but empirical evidence is lacking. Moreover it is unclear whether this desire ranges over others’ empirical or normative expectations. We propose a new experimental design to isolate this motivation and to investigate what expectations people are inclined to meet. Results indicate that, when nobody can assign either material or immaterial sanctions, the perceived legitimacy of others’ normative expectations can motivate a significant number of people to comply with costly social norms.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01413/fullsocial normsverbal communicationnorm violationLegitimacyPsychological game theorySocial norm compliance |
| spellingShingle | Giulia eAndrighetto Giulia eAndrighetto Daniela eGrieco Luca eTummolini Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching Frontiers in Psychology social norms verbal communication norm violation Legitimacy Psychological game theory Social norm compliance |
| title | Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching |
| title_full | Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching |
| title_fullStr | Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching |
| title_short | Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching |
| title_sort | perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching |
| topic | social norms verbal communication norm violation Legitimacy Psychological game theory Social norm compliance |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01413/full |
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