When There Are Norms You Did Not Know At All In Games

Norms are ideas. These are ideas that exist in our thoughts that tell us what we are expected to do. They can also express what others expect of us, and they are commonly shared. All groups have norms and they are not harmful. They can actually play a big role in how each member of the group feels, thinks and acts.

When group identity is important, group norms will guide people’s behavior. For example, if you walk down the street and meet a homeless person who asks for money. Maybe you give him something, maybe not.

But if you are a member of a charity or a religious group with a given norm, then you will probably give him something. You do this because giving something to others is the norm in your group.

How norms arise

A group can explicitly decide its norms, an agreement between the members. They can also arise from how people behave. If the others in the group imitate certain manners, it becomes the norm of the group. Group members can imitate them, either because they may have a purpose or because they help the group survive.

But this is not the only way norms arise. They can also develop in a less democratic way. Sometimes it is the leader of the group who chooses them.

It can also be a role model in the group that subconsciously creates them. It happens if a particularly representative member stands out by his thoughts, feelings, or acts differently. This leads to a tension that is resolved if the other members make the new behavior a norm.

Two kinds of norms

There are two kinds of norms that can be found in a group: the written and the unwritten norms. The unwritten norms are those that are about what the members of the group do in a given situation. If you do not know what to do, it is best to look at what the others are doing. That way, you can end up doing the same thing by imitating them.

If they then back you up after you imitate them, you will probably do the same next time. Therefore, these norms arise when people imitate the most important members of the group.

The written norms have to do with what group members approve or disapprove of. They tell you what you can and cannot do. It’s like morality: they show you what’s right and what’s wrong.

The group motivates these norms through its own rewards and punishments. They punish anyone who does not follow them and reward those who can find out.

Functions of standards

Group norms can have a lot of different functions. On the one hand, there are the individual functions, each of which affects each member of the group. Then there are the social functions that affect the group and its members.

The most important individual function is to give it a specific worldview. The group’s norms tell you how the world works and how to think, feel and act in that world.

There are certain purposes that are worth mentioning when it comes to their social functions. One of them is that they regulate the relationship between the members of the group. They tell you how to act towards the others. They can also make it clear to you what the group’s functions and goals are. Finally, they help preserve the group’s identity.

The effect of the black sheep

But norms are like rules to be broken – at least some are. Group members will always have an opportunity not to follow them. If that happens then most groups have people trying to stop them.

Here they will typically slander those members who do not respect the norms. On the other hand, those members who respect the norms (perfect prototypes) will emerge victorious.

We call it the effect of the black sheep. The idea of ​​slandering them is to get rid of these members who contribute negative input to their social identity. There were two recent examples of this in Spain.

When some Catalans rallied and demanded independence, they broke the norms. Some (not all) with a national identity responded by slandering them. They sided with the side that wanted to keep Spain as a united country.

The opposite also happened: some Catalans with a strong Catalan identity slandered those who wanted a united Spain. You will of course be able to see in the news that that conflict has not been resolved yet.