Understanding Social Expectations

Social expectations are the minimal behaviors expected of people to help them get along in a society, place, group or situation. They differ from social pressures, which are more related to the social drive to compete, thrive, produce outcomes, achieve social status and fully participate in a society, culture or group. Social expectation violations can result in social disapproval, loss of face and rejection of a person.

A number of theories explain why individuals comply with social norms, ranging from utilitarian theories that account for motivations conditional on empirical beliefs to a recurrent-normative theory that assumes a basic notion of fairness or kindness is hardwired into all humans and thus motivates players to uphold certain principles of behavior (Rabin 1993). But while these theories do help explain individual motivations for conformity, they don't address how or why norms emerge and die out. Norms that are inefficient, for example, may disappear more quickly than norms that are well-established.To understand how norms evolve and change, researchers study a variety of lab experiments that involve changing the social context or the rules and signals for a behavior. They use various strategies to shift perceptions of what other people do, for instance, by showing that peers and other similar individuals don't practice a particular behavior (a descriptive norm). They also use negative deviance—that is, by promoting positive deviation from existing rules—to promote a shift in beliefs about the sanctions and rewards associated with a particular behavior (an injunctive norm).Researchers are also examining whether social expectation violations trigger certain psychological responses. For instance, a new study showed that bonobos, a species known to exhibit cooperative behavior, will publicly broadcast their disapproval of other members when those members display aggressive behavior in a way that is not socially expected. Researchers analyzed the acoustic characteristics of victim vocalizations in response to observed aggression and found that screams triggered by unexpected versus anticipated conflict were associated with different acoustic patterns.In addition, research is revealing that people who perceive stronger pandemic norms—in other words, a higher social sense of urgency or cohesion among groups—feel better emotionally, eg, they experience less distress and anxiety, report more confidence in authoritative organizations and have more self-confidence than people who don't perceive strong pandemic norms.This research adds to previous studies that showed tight cultures are better prepared for ecological and societal threats because they enhance social coordination at the group level, which helps people to deal with a threat and coordinate responses to it. But it also adds to the evidence that norms can have direct consequences for psychological health and that these effects are more pronounced for some kinds of norms than others. For example, a norm of honesty is likely to be strengthened by the belief that nearly everyone in a community complies with it, and so is likely to persist even if the community suddenly becomes overtaken by thieves. This is because people uphold the principle of honesty as a fundamental part of their identity and don't want to break this bond even in the face of a threat to their well-being.