THE TWO TYPES OF SOCIAL NORMS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF THEIR FORMATION

Abstract

The paper considers principles of formation of the two types of social norms that can be denoted as moral and traditional social norms. Usually researchers distinguish the two types of social norms by source of their origin: moral and conventional social norms. The former are associated with a prohibition of causing harm to other people; the latter are associated with social agreements on standards of behavior in certain situations. I have suggested that those social norms that are not connected with the prohibition of causing harm to others, by their origin may be related not to convention between people, but to the fact that patterns of behavior that are common to individuals are considered to be obligatory for implementing standards. The possibility of creating social norms in this way was checked in an empirical study. The relationship between the tendency of an individual to apply traditional social norms and his individual characteristics was also considered. The results of the study confirmed the initial assumption. These results suggest that a role of social norms in the life of society is not only in creating the basis for corporate behavior, as researchers usually say. Social norms can also contribute to conservation of established behavioral patterns and formation of prejudices about non-standard behavior.