Agents typically revise their beliefs when confronted with evidence that contradicts those beliefs, selecting from a number of possible revisions sufficient to reestablish consistency. In cases where an individual’s beliefs concern spatial relations, belief revision has been fruitfully treated as a decision about which features of an initially constructed spatial mental model to modify. A norma...

Our beliefs about which actions we ought to perform clearly have an effect on what we do. But so-called “Humean” theories—holding that all motivation has its source in desire—insist on connecting such beliefs with an antecedent motive. Rationalists, on the other hand, allow normative beliefs a more independent role. I argue in favor of the rationalist view in two stages. First, I show that the ...

The words we use matter. The concept of a social norm exists in many social and behavioral science disciplines and research traditions (1). Because the general term “social norm” is a hypernym, an explicit definition is crucial to discussions of its place and usefulness in solving complex social–environmental issues (cf. ref. 2). In their discussion of incentives, Lubchenco et al. (3) suggest t...

This study tested the predictive validity of Ajzen’s theory planned behavior with a sample 182 non-traditional students in higher education to develop our understanding students’ intentions transfer trained knowledge and skills from university courses workplace. After completing their courses, survey measured behavioral, normative, control beliefs, attitudes, perceived social norms, self-effica...

In a longitudinal study with N = 1,854 adolescents from Germany, we investigated patterns of change and gender differences in physical and relational aggression in relation to normative beliefs about these two forms of aggression. Participants, whose mean age was 13 years at T1, completed self-report measures of physically and relationally aggressive behavior and indicated their normative appro...

OBJECTIVES Many health promotion educational interventions assume that increasing knowledge directly influences beliefs, intentions and behaviour, whereas research suggests that knowledge alone is insufficient for behavioural change. Social cognition frameworks such as the Theory of Reasoned Action propose a central role for beliefs and social normative influences. This Scottish study evaluates...

This paper explores freedom of philosophical and non-religious beliefs in Bulgaria. It outlines the constitutional framework this both contemporary Bulgarian model based on current 1991 Constitution history as well previous fundamental laws – 1879, 1947, 1971 Constitutions. The legal socio-legal aspects beliefs, analysing role normative ideologies context secularism specifically, largely secula...

An Analysis of Bullying Among Students Within Schools: Estimating the Effects of Individual Normative Beliefs, SelfEsteem, and School Climate Brian P. Gendron a , Kirk R. Williams b & Nancy G. Guerra a a Department of Psychology, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California, USA b Department of Sociology, and Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies, University of California...

Refinement is an operation of theory change where new or old beliefs (norms) are restricted by some specific condition, instead of being fully accepted or rejected. We present constructions, based on AGM partial meet contraction and revision, for operators of external, internal and global refinement and show that they satisfy reasonable AGM-like postulates. Then we apply these operators to a ha...

In the same way that medicine, science, the media and many other social institutions shape how individuals experience and interpret everyday life in contemporary western societies, the criminal justice system broadly and its laws and experts specifically presents a unique social environment, imbued with normative processes and procedures that sociologically reflect broader systemic mores, belie...