Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Conformity01:20

Conformity

45.2K
Conformity is the change in a person’s behavior to go along with the group, even if that person does not agree with the group.
45.2K
Social Proof00:52

Social Proof

27.7K
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
27.7K
Obedience01:08

Obedience

32.9K
According to obedience research, we may harm others under the forceful pressures of an authority figure (Milgram, 1974). How about if the inappropriate orders were delivered with less force? The increasing interdependence between nurses and physicians compelled Hofling and his colleagues to explore nurses’ reactions to a potentially harmful medical request made by the perceived authority figure, the doctor (Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves, & Pierce, 1966). In this situation,...
32.9K
Persuasion Strategies01:52

Persuasion Strategies

38.6K
Researchers have tested many persuasion strategies, including the foot-in-the door and the door-in-the-face techniques, in a variety of contexts. Ultimately, the principles are effective in selling products and changing people’s attitude, ideas, and behaviors (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004).
38.6K
Factors Affecting Perception01:25

Factors Affecting Perception

1.6K
Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
1.6K
The Stanford Prison Experiment03:20

The Stanford Prison Experiment

23.2K
The famous and controversial Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University, demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts.
23.2K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Norms and Social Network-Centric Behavior Change Intervention (Nam Nalavazhvu) for Improved Toilet Usage in Peri-Urban Communities of Tamil Nadu: Protocol for a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.

JMIR research protocols·2021
Same author

Do descriptive norms messaging interventions backfire? Protocol for a systematic review of the boomerang effect.

Systematic reviews·2020
Same author

Women are more likely to expect social sanctions for open defecation: Evidence from Tamil Nadu India.

PloS one·2020
Same author

Anxiety and the Neurobiology of Temporally Uncertain Threat Anticipation.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2020
Same author

Bias in the perceived prevalence of open defecation: Evidence from Bihar, India.

PloS one·2020
Same author

Alternate versions of a fixed-choice, delay-discounting assessment for repeated-measures designs.

Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology·2018

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 5, 2025

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
05:22

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: May 9, 2019

5.4K

Language matters: how normative expressions shape norm perception and affect norm compliance.

Jinyi Kuang1,2, Cristina Bicchieri1,2,3

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|January 20, 2024
PubMed
Summary

People comply more with direct commands than social norms. Compliance varies with message framing and norm strength, especially for weak norms like charitable giving.

Keywords:
altruismdecision-makingfree-responsenormative languagereciprocitysocial norms

More Related Videos

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses
05:21

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses

Published on: January 7, 2019

7.9K
Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication
07:18

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Published on: January 26, 2024

902

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 5, 2025

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
05:22

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: May 9, 2019

5.4K
Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses
05:21

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses

Published on: January 7, 2019

7.9K
Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication
07:18

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Published on: January 26, 2024

902

Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Communication Studies

Background:

  • Normative language (e.g., 'should', 'appropriate') is used to convey injunctions and social norms.
  • Previous research has not fully explored how different normative expressions affect interpretation and behavior.
  • Understanding these nuances is crucial for effective communication and behavior change strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether people's interpretations of normative language differ.
  • To determine if behavioral responses vary across different types of normative expressions.
  • To examine the impact of message framing (injunction vs. social norm) on compliance.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted two studies with a total of 2903 participants.
  • Analyzed compliance rates based on different normative expressions and framing.
  • Performed content analysis of free-text responses to understand interpretations and motives.

Main Results:

  • Compliance is sensitive to the type and framing of normative expressions.
  • Participants showed higher compliance with injunctions compared to social norm framing.
  • The effect of normative expression type was significant for weak norms (e.g., charitable donations) but not strong norms (e.g., reciprocity).

Conclusions:

  • Social norm messages can be perceived as vague, undermining their effectiveness.
  • Careful selection of normative language is essential for eliciting compliance, particularly when norms are weak.
  • Findings highlight the importance of message design in social norm change initiatives.