Norms and Status in Groups Outline

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Norms and Status in GroupsOutline

• Norms
• Norm Development
• Analyzing Class Norms
• Responding to Norm Violations
• Status Basics
• Achieved Status
• Ascribed Status

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Norms
Acceptable standards of behavior within a group
that are adopted and shared by the groups members
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Norms

• Norms
• Accepted ways of thinking, feeling, behaving
• Shared expectations about how the members of a
  group ought to behave
• Why do we follow norms?
• Make life easier
• Rewards for following norms
• Internalization of norms

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Descriptive Norms

• Rules for what is commonly done or thought in a
  situation
• e.g., kinds of clothes, rules of conversation,
  certain aspects of beauty
• Descriptive norms are great for fitting in
• What is the downside of fitting in?
• Mob mentality
• Pluralistic ignorance ? When peoples beliefs
  about the descriptive norm do match reality

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Injunctive Norms

• Description of what is allowed or commonly
  approved/disapproved of in a situation
• What you should do instead of what people
  typically do

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Norms and Littering

• Descriptive norms
• People little more in a dirty parking garage than
  a clean parking garage
• Dirty parking garage provides evidence that
  littering there is what people do
• Injunctive norms
• Less likely to litter after observing someone
  pick up a piece of litter reminds you what you
  should do

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Results of an experiment on norms concerning
littering. The prior existence of litter in a
public setting implies that littering is
acceptable. This encourages others to trash the
area. (From Cialdini, Reno, Kallgren, 1990.)
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• A. Norm of reciprocity
• When someone provides you with a benefit, it is
  appropriate for you to return the favor
• EXAMPLE Regan (1971)
• Coke study
• B. Norm of social commitment
• Keeping our promises and honoring our commitments
• C. Conforming to group norms
• Tendency to follow attitudes and behavior of the
  group

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Group Norms Cooperation vs Competition

• Norms of cooperation
• Norms encouraging members to support each other
  toward the achievement of the goals
• Has positive benefits
• Norms of competition
• Norms supportive of members seeking personal
  goals at the expense of other members
• Often originates in leaders reward structure
• Individualistic vs collectivist cultures
• Between groups vs within group competition

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Group Norms Productivity Norms

• Production norms
• Norms specifying how hard to work and how much to
  produce
• Norms favoring production when
• groups identity is congruent with high
  production
• group has shared goals related to production
• personal goals are tied to group goals
• group likes and values the leadership
• Hawthorne studies

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Norm Development

• EXAMPLE Sherif's (1936) autokinetic effect
  studies

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Autokinetic effect the stationary dot of light
will seem to move
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What if people make their judgments with others,
and state estimates aloud?
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Average distance estimates
Alone
Group Session 1
Group Session 3
Group Session 2
A norm develops! Initially, they differ but
over trials, they converge
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Analyzing the Norms of our Class

• Lets say a new student joined our classroom
  right now and to ease their entrance into the
  class group, you and your group have to provide
  them with a handbook about the groups norms.
  Create two lists of specific class norms for this
  student, one of formal norms and one of informal
  norms. Include common penalties delivered to
  group members that violate the norms. What other
  norms should our class consider adopting to deal
  with any problem member behaviors or
  inefficiencies in how the class works.

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Responding to Norm Violations in the Group

• Likely consequences
• 1) Once a member violates a norm, others will
  take it as permission to violate it as well
• 2) People may become angry with the leader if
  s/he doesnt respond to norm violations
• Members are most likely to abide by a norm if
• they had a say in deciding on the norm
• they understand and accept the reasons behind it

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Status Basics

• Status
• Individuals positions in a hierarchy of power
  relations within a social group

• 3 major components
• Asymmetrical amounts of attention
• Differential amounts of respect and esteem
• Differential amounts of influence

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Status Basics

• Status system
• Distribution of power and prestige
• Status hierarchy often reflected in official
  structure
• Achieved status
• Status that is earned
• Ascribed status
• Status that is bestowed based on some
  prestigious/powerful characteristic

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Status Markers

• Nonverbal and verbal behaviors that signify
  status
• Standing up straight
• Maintaining strong eye contact
• Speaking in a firm voice
• Speaking the most
• Criticizing, commanding, and interrupting others
• Domineering/directive behaviors
• Firm handshake

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Achieved Status

• Earn status by helping group achieve goal and by
  sacrificing for group
• Path to earning status depends on group
• Earning status involves working their way up
  the status hierarchy
• High status are often those who have been in the
  group longest

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Status Dues System

• What the group requires of members before they
  are awarded higher status
• New members must pay dues
• Status violation
• When low status members act as if they have high
  status before they pay their dues

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Your Experience with Status Dues Systems

• Think of the groups you have been a member of.
  Identify any status dues that had to be paid and
  what happened to new group members who failed to
  understand the groups status dues systems

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Ascribed Status

• Individuals are often assigned high status merely
  by looking and acting like they are high status
• e.g., by displaying status markers
• Two views on attaining status in groups
• The Ethological Approach
• Expectation States Theory

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The Ethological Approach
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Ethological approach

• Approach that suggests stronger humans are
  assigned high status in the group
• Strength determined by
• Size
• Musculature
• Facial expressions
• etc
• Status contests are common
• Negotiating status through verbal acts, gestures,
  and postures

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Expectation States Theory

• Status is determined by expectations group
  members have of each members ability and
  potential to contribute to the group
• These expectations are Performance Expectations
• Performance expectations affect
• Extent to which members look to other members for
  contributions
• Perceptions regarding the value of members
  contributions
• Who wins in the case of a disagreement

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Status Characteristics

• Specific-status characteristics
• Skill or experience related status
  characteristics
• Diffuse-status characteristics
• Demographically derived (and visually obvious)
  status characteristics, such as age, ethnicity,
  gender, or attractiveness

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How Did you Learn Norms as a New Group Member?

• Describe your experiences as a new group member
  in an established group and the process by which
  you learned the norms of the group.
• For instance, consider experiences such as taking
  a new job, joining an existing club, moving from
  one parents home to another, or being a new
  member of a romantic partners family group.
• What might the group have done to help you learn
  the norms more quickly?