ABSTRACT

All groups have norms. But different groups develop very different norms. Norms, simply put, are the shared implicit and explicit rules of a group, and comprise a major ingredient of the culture of the group. They include the stated rules such as “you are expected to arrive on time,” and more implicit rules such as “do not sit in the therapist’s chair.” Some norms are simple, such as “wait for someone to pause before you speak, “while others can be more complex, for example, “do not express too much angry affect because the group gets frightened by it.”