Environmental Wellness

What are Social Norms?

Social norms are a broad set of prescriptions, both explicit and implicit, that dictate behavior in particular situations. They vary from culture to culture and often change over time.

The college experience is accompanied by different values, social norms, and traditions. When asking students to think about common college norms, negative behaviors such as binge drinking, skipping class, and attending parties come to mind. There is also opportunity for other social norms to form such as wearing pajamas to class, sleeping pretty much anywhere, and drinking coffee between the hours of 10:00pm and 2:00am.

Failure to follow social norms can result in social sanctions. Most societies tolerate some deviation from social norms, though. People generally look with favor on those who follow social norms

The Problem with Social Norms:

Because social norms often do not have a specific reasoning behind them, they can be more difficult to change than explicit rules such as laws. Social norms can become problematic when they encourage behavior that is damaging to certain groups. People often continue to do things the way they have always done them rather than respond to new information or ideas in a changing society, which can have a significant impact on those who do not conform to prescribed social norms.

Social Norm Statistics at WOU:

Social norms on a college campus seem to include the idea that substance use is widespread. However, when comparing actual use to perceived use of substances on campus, we can see a drastic difference.

• Such information was according to Western’s 2018 National College Health Assessment.
• Reported use for all students within the past 30 days compared with how often students perceived the typical student on campus used substances within the same time period.

Resources:

Social Norms