ABSTRACT
O ne of the fundamental tenets of social psychology is that individuals are infl uenced by others. From the earliest days of empirical social psychol-ogy, research has shown that the mere presence of others infl uences people’s behavior (Triplett, 1897; see also Strube, 2005). But social infl uence goes far beyond the mere presence of others. From our observations and perceptions of how other people think, feel, and act, we infer what is normal and acceptable in a given context. These inferences, in turn, serve as guides for our own actions. Research on the infl uence of social norms has a long history, and over the years, a number of widely accepted truths have emerged. In this chapter, we examine these widely held “truths” in light of recent fi eld experiments. We begin with defi nitions and distinctions between different types of norms, discuss norms as agents of infl uence, and examine fi ve widely accepted ideas about the effects of normative beliefs on behavior. We conclude by summarizing three broad perspectives on the infl uence of normative beliefs and highlight avenues for future research. A consistent theme recurs across this chapter: social infl uence associated with normative beliefs is more robust, and more complex, than suggested by the widely held “truths” of social psychology.
