Where do social norms come from
Whether we realize it or not social norms are all around us. Anything from the way
you eat to the clothes you wear are all part of a social norm. Their occurrence
however is quite extraordinary. For something to be able to “Support individual
adaptive success in local ecologies” as Dr. Reid Hastie put it is rather significant. In
measuring social norms psychologist’s and scientists often look for dominant
themes in social behavior. Such as washing ones hands after using the restroom or,
or brushing ones teeth before bed. When an action or behavior is practiced on a
large scale within a community, state, or nation it is safe to assume it is a social
norm. So how do these social behaviors come into fruition? Much of the process has
to do with adaptation. The idea behind this is that as a behavior becomes more
