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Norms

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Behavior patterns; Common knowledge; Public behaviors; Rule; Social norm; Standard

Definition

Norms are expectations stating that something should or must be the case or socially shared definitions of the way people do behave or should behave. From a sociological perspective, social norms are informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society.

Norms have obtained a great deal of attention in the social sciences, such as anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, and psychology. This article will introduce this item from the perspective of evolutionary psychology. Two main topics will be touched in this review: the emergence of evolutionary social norms and the social norms-marketing campaign resulting from the connection between social norms and behaviors.

The Emergence of Evolutionary Social Norms

Being different from the institutional norms, which are formed and enforced by certain individuals (usually the leader of group) or institutions,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Yan Wang

Authors
  1. Yan Wang
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  2. Junjie Liang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yan Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Menelaos Apostolou

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Wang, Y., Liang, J. (2018). Norms. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1084-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1084-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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