subjective norms

Definition. n. Subjective norms are a person's perceptions of what the people who are important to him or her think about his/her performing a specific behavior. In other words, subjective norms are a function of a person's evaluation of whether different people or groups of people approve or disapprove of his/her performing a behavior and how much the person is motivated to comply with those people's wishes. A person is likely to perform a behavior that important others approve of because he/she may feel subtle social pressure to conform to their wishes.

Explanation. As mentioned, subjective norms refer to a person's perceptions of what important others' attitudes are about his or her performing a behavior. For example, college students are confronted with the choice of skipping class rather than attending class regularly. When deciding whether or not to skip class, a student may consider what parents, teachers, and other students think about his/her skipping class. The student would probably determine that parents and teachers would disapprove of skipping class. However, perhaps friends in the class skip frequently, and they encourage the student to skip too. In this case, if peer attitudes matter more to the student than the attitudes of parents and teachers, the student would have positive subjective norms about skipping class. On the other hand, if the student's parents agree to pay for school only if the student regularly attends class, or if the teacher disapproves of skipping class and deducts points, the student is more likely to have negative subjective norms for skipping class. Also, if the student is involved in a group project in class, and the other students' grades are dependent on this student's contribution, peers will likely disapprove of the student's skipping class and the student is more likely to have negative subjective norms for doing so.

Development and details. Subjective norms play a key role in two closely related theories – the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TpB). These theories are widely used to understand and predict a person's behavior. While social scientists once believed that knowledge of a person's attitudes about a behavior was sufficient to allow the prediction of that behavior, inconsistent research findings forced these scientists to reevaluate their position. Although people's attitudes influence what they do, what their friends and other important people in their lives think (subjective norms) also influences what they do. The TRA takes this influence into account and states that attitudes and subjective norms must be used to predict a person's intention for performing a behavior, and this behavioral intention can then be used to predict whether the actual behavior will be carried out. The addition of the subjective norms element does improve prediction of behavior. The TpB is similar to the TRA except it adds that perceived control over the behavior must also be used to predict intentions (in addition to attitudes and subjective norms), and then the intentions can be used to predict behavior.

While subjective norms are considered generally to improve the accuracy of behavioral predictions, this is not always the case. There are certain types of people who are less influenced by subjective norms. For example, picture someone who would be considered a loner. When making decisions regarding the performance of behaviors, this type of person is probably less likely to have important others in his/her life and less likely to consider what other people think about his/her performing the behavior. Also, some people (called low self-monitors) do not care as much about what other people think about their behaviors. These low self-monitors have been found to behave in a consistent manner across situations, regardless of who is present or what other people think about their behavior. – VKP, LAB