When explaining someone’s behavior, reference is often made to Theory of Mind concepts like beliefs (”she believed it was the right thing to do”) or desires (”she wanted to”). Less appreciated is the explanatory potential for descriptive and prescriptive norms (e.g., ”she returned the wallet because it was the right thing to do”). One possibility is that norms serve as explanations only when me...

The most intriguing and ethically challenging roles of robots in society are those of collaborator and social partner. We propose that such robots must have the capacity to learn, represent, activate, and apply social and moral norms—they must have a norm capacity. We offer a theoretical analysis of two parallel questions: what constitutes this norm capacity in humans and how might we implement...

Three studies examined strategies of status improvement in experimentally created (Study 1 and 2) and preexisting (Study 3) low-status groups. Theory and prior research suggested that an in-group norm that established a particular strategy of status improvement as moral (rather than competent) would have a greater effect on individuals' decision to work at this strategy. Both Study 1 and Study ...

The Indian caste system is a complex social structure wherein social roles like one's profession became 'hereditary,' resulting in restricted social mobility and fixed status hierarchies. Furthermore, we argue that the inherent property of caste heightens group identification with one's caste. Highly identified group members would protect the identity of the group in situations when group norms...

PURPOSE to investigate factors that motivate safe sex practice, searching for antecedents of the intention to use condom among the population of young students in Belo Horizonte. METHODS a survey based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been carried out in a sample of 732 students, with ages from 18 to 19 years old. Using the multiple regression analysis on data obtained from an anon...