ABSTRACT
A fter decades of debate regarding the role of normative perceptions in people’s everyday actions (e.g., Berkowitz, 1972; Darley & Latané, 1970; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Sherif, 1936), it is now clear that social norms direct people’s behaviors in predictable ways (Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2003; Kerr, 1995; Schultz, 1999; Terry & Hogg, 2000; Turner, 1991). Having reached somewhat of a consensus on what norms are capable of doing, researchers have turned their attention to issues such as when their causal impact is likely to be greatest and how different kinds of social norms inuence behavior via different mediating mechanisms.
