ABSTRACT
Although the concept of norm is not recent and is central in social psychology (Sherif, 1935), it has not given rise to a unified body of research. Therefore, if we look at the paradigms used in studies of norms, we notice high variability in the experimental procedures. Some are based on the analysis of the consensus of responses produced in laboratory situations (Sherif, 1935); others revolve around the observations of the subjects’ behaviors in natural situations (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; Cialdini, Kallgren, and Reno, 1991); still others refer to the subject’s declarations (Codol, 1974, 1975); some are more direct and demand that the subjects behave according to some norm that is then explained (Fukushima, 1994). Since Jellison and Green’s seminal article appeared in 1981, three paradigms have been used in a more systematic way to study the normative value associated with judgments:
1 The self-presentation paradigm in which subjects attempt to give either the best or the worst image of themselves by exhibiting the judgments they believe to be either the most valued or the most non-valued.
