Threat to Control and Social Norms: Conformity, Change or Formation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Immo Fritsche, since 9/2018
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 277139596

Little is known about why and when people are more likely to conform to social norms in times of threat. With this research, we want to examine the processes underlying norm-related behavior when people lack a general sense of personal control. We focus on why threat to control leads to norm-related behavior and when this lead to norm conformity, norm formation, or attempt to change existing norms. We assume that under lack of control, people aim to restore a sense of agency by identifying with social groups and by acting as group members. We propose two psychological processes that should underlie norm-related behavior. First, we propose that under lack of control and when a relevant social identity is salient, their attention shifts to cues from their social environment that may signal what is normative. Second, we propose that perceived norms are judged as to whether they support group agency or not. We argue that these two processes help to distinguish between three kinds of norm-related behavior (conformity, formation, change) under lack of control. We plan to use a series of lab and field studies to study these processes. This research will not only help to understand why control threat leads to social conformity but also how social innovation and flexibility can be enhanced in times of crisis. Additionally, the studies planned in this project could shed a light on the conditions in which social norms are changed, and how group solidarity and re-categorization processes might contribute to such change.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Poland, Spain
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Marcin Bukowski
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Soledad de Lemus
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Philipp Jugert, until 8/2018