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Silence and Table Manners: When Environments Activate Norms

University of Groningen

Diederik A. Stapel

Tilburg University, d.a.stapel{at}uvt.nl

Siegwart M. Lindenberg

University of Groningen

Two studies tested the conditions under which an environment (e.g., library, restaurant) raises the relevance of environment-specific social norms (e.g., being quiet, using table manners). As hypothesized, the relevance of such norms is raised when environments are goal relevant ("I am going there later") and when they are humanized with people or the remnants of their presence (e.g., a glass of wine on a table). Two studies show that goal-relevant environments and humanized environments raise the perceived importance of norms (Study 1) and the intention to conform to norms (Study 2). Interestingly, in both studies, these effects reach beyond norms related to the environments used in the studies.

Key Words: norms • situationist perspective • social influence • priming • environment

This version was published on August 1, 2008

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 8, 1047-1056 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167208318401


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