Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors

This research examines how impacts of norm perceptions on behaviors may depend on the driving forces of the behaviors. I propose two types of norm perceptions, norm clarity and punishment, as two features of tightness of norms. The former concerns whether individuals perceive there is clear ex...

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Main Author: Liu, Mengru
Other Authors: Wan Ching
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: 2019
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/96066
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49475
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-960662020-07-02T06:24:47Z Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors Liu, Mengru Wan Ching School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Sociology This research examines how impacts of norm perceptions on behaviors may depend on the driving forces of the behaviors. I propose two types of norm perceptions, norm clarity and punishment, as two features of tightness of norms. The former concerns whether individuals perceive there is clear expectation of behavior and the latter concerns individuals’ perceptions of how severe the social disapproval is for norm violation. Whereas individuals in tighter societies are expected to display norm adherence, little is known on how individuals’ perceptions of norm clarity and punishment might affect their decisions in norm adherence for value-expressive behaviors. Social-focused values concern how individuals relate socially to others. I expect engagement in behaviors expressing social-focused values to be predicted by perceived norm clarity and punishment because individuals would be concerned about the perceptions of social others. Personal-focused values concern individuals’ expression of personal preferences. I expect the effect of perceived clarity and punishment on engagement in behaviors expressing personalfocused values to be moderated by the extent to which norm adherence would fulfill the individual’s personal needs. Five studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Studies 1 and 2 found that in Singaporean culture, perceived clarity and punishment predicted engagement in behaviors expressing social-focused values. However, for behaviors expressing personal-focused values, there was no effect of perceived punishment, and the predictive effect of perceived clarity was only apparent for individuals high in need for closure. Study 3 extended the findings to the cultural context of friendship group. Study 4 suggested that perceptions of the personal and social focus motivation were insufficient to drive the different influences of norm perceptions on personal-focused behaviors and social-focused behaviors. Study 5 manipulated the motivation of a norm to be either personally focused or socially focused and replicated the findings from Studies 1, 2 and 3. The research sheds lights on the motivational mechanism underline the impact of perceived norm clarity and punishment on value-expressive behaviors. Doctor of Philosophy 2019-07-29T01:43:48Z 2019-12-06T19:25:07Z 2019-07-29T01:43:48Z 2019-12-06T19:25:07Z 2019 Thesis Liu, M. (2019). Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/96066 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49475 10.32657/10220/49475 en 175 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Sociology
spellingShingle Social sciences::Sociology
Liu, Mengru
Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
description This research examines how impacts of norm perceptions on behaviors may depend on the driving forces of the behaviors. I propose two types of norm perceptions, norm clarity and punishment, as two features of tightness of norms. The former concerns whether individuals perceive there is clear expectation of behavior and the latter concerns individuals’ perceptions of how severe the social disapproval is for norm violation. Whereas individuals in tighter societies are expected to display norm adherence, little is known on how individuals’ perceptions of norm clarity and punishment might affect their decisions in norm adherence for value-expressive behaviors. Social-focused values concern how individuals relate socially to others. I expect engagement in behaviors expressing social-focused values to be predicted by perceived norm clarity and punishment because individuals would be concerned about the perceptions of social others. Personal-focused values concern individuals’ expression of personal preferences. I expect the effect of perceived clarity and punishment on engagement in behaviors expressing personalfocused values to be moderated by the extent to which norm adherence would fulfill the individual’s personal needs. Five studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Studies 1 and 2 found that in Singaporean culture, perceived clarity and punishment predicted engagement in behaviors expressing social-focused values. However, for behaviors expressing personal-focused values, there was no effect of perceived punishment, and the predictive effect of perceived clarity was only apparent for individuals high in need for closure. Study 3 extended the findings to the cultural context of friendship group. Study 4 suggested that perceptions of the personal and social focus motivation were insufficient to drive the different influences of norm perceptions on personal-focused behaviors and social-focused behaviors. Study 5 manipulated the motivation of a norm to be either personally focused or socially focused and replicated the findings from Studies 1, 2 and 3. The research sheds lights on the motivational mechanism underline the impact of perceived norm clarity and punishment on value-expressive behaviors.
author2 Wan Ching
author_facet Wan Ching
Liu, Mengru
format Theses and Dissertations
author Liu, Mengru
author_sort Liu, Mengru
title Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
title_short Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
title_full Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
title_fullStr Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
title_full_unstemmed Perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
title_sort perception of norm clarity and punishment in affecting value-expressive behaviors
publishDate 2019
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/96066
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49475
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