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Mapping the Social-Norms Literature: An Overview of Reviews
Open accessAbstract
The theoretical literature on social norms is multifaceted and at times contradictory. Looking at existing reviews, we aimed to offer a more complete understanding of its current status. By investigating the conceptual frameworks and organizing elements used to compare social-norms theories, we identified four theoretical spaces of inquiry that were common across the reviews: what social norms are, what relationship exists between social norms and behavior, how social norms evolve, and what categories of actors must be considered in the study of social norms. We highlight areas of consensus and debate in the reviews around these four themes and discuss points of agreement and disagreement that uncover trajectories for future empirical and theoretical investigation.
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“However, the various conceptualizations and operationalizations in the TMT literature do not allow a clear distinction between when a primed concept is a social norm and when it is a personal norm.”
From Do Salient Social Norms Moderate Mortality Salience Effects? A (Challenging) Meta-Analysis of Terror Management Studies (2023) · cites this paper as Legros & Cislaghi, 2020
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Metadata
- Authors
- Legros, S., & Cislaghi, B.
- Affiliations
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Cislaghi, Beniamino
- Venue
- Perspectives on Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-11-07
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 62-80
- ISSN
- 1745-6916 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-6924
- PMC
- PMC6970459
- OpenAlex
- W2971923619
- Cited by
- 388
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 95 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 32.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Perspectives on Psychological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Pro-Environmental Behavior and Attitudes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Keywords
- social norms, social norms theory, norm evolution, conceptual framework, theoretical debates, normative influence
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Review Literature as Topic, Social Behavior, Social Norms
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