Disentangling unique and consensual group norm perceptions: A study with ethnic majority students

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Group norms significantly influence individual behavior, but reliance on perceived norms can be misleading.
• Accurate measurement of perceived group norms is crucial for understanding social influence.
• Previous research has not fully clarified the role of norm perceptions in social influence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of children's perceptions of classroom anti-prejudice norms on their ethnic outgroup attitudes.
• To differentiate between consensual and unique norm perceptions and their effects.
• To examine the moderating role of ingroup identification in social influence.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 779 children (ages 7-13) in 51 Dutch primary school classrooms.
• Assessed perceptions of the classroom's anti-prejudice norm (consensual and unique parts).
• Measured ethnic outgroup attitudes and ingroup identification.

Main Results:

• Both consensual and unique norm perceptions concurrently influenced ethnic outgroup attitudes.
• Only consensual norm perceptions had a significant longitudinal effect on attitudes.
• Ingroup identification moderated these effects, enhancing concurrent influence of unique perceptions but reducing their longitudinal impact.

Conclusions:

• Consensually shared norm perceptions are key to actual group influence over time.
• Individual reliance on unique norm perceptions diminishes longitudinally, especially for high identifiers.
• Understanding norm perception accuracy is vital for effective social influence interventions.