Some investigators have suggested that people act altruistically because of the prescriptions of social norms. It has been suggested that altruism is regulated by two social norms—the norm of social responsibility, and the norm of giving. The level of analysis at which normative explanations occur is thought to be appropriate to sociological theory, but its contribution to psychological research is questioned.
The Norm of Social Responsibility
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Get Help Now!Research has been reviewed which demonstrated that people tend to help those who are dependent on them. Berkowitz and his colleagues (e.g., Berkowitz & Daniels, 1963) attributed such helping to the influence of the ‘norm of social responsibility,” which prescribes that people should help those who need help. Normative analysis suggests that people act altruistically in particular situations because it is the proper thing to do.
The notion that people act in accord with normative standards of conduct seems quite sound as far as it goes. It would seem, though, that it does not go far enough. Although normative analysts (e.g., Berkowitz [footnoteRef:4] ) have criticized the explanatory circularity of reinforcement theory, the postulation of social norms can also end in tautology. A particular response, for example, can be predicted on the basis of a norm. If it occurs, the norm is said to have had an effect. If it does not occur, the situation is said to fall outside the range of the norm. In cases where the norm is established on the basis of the behavior it is supposed to predict, it is in the same position as Skinner’s (1953) reinforcer—its existence is established by the effect it produces. The danger with normative analysis is that norms can be invented post hoc to explain almost anything. Although Berkowitz has taken steps toward the specification of eliciting situations—dependency is said to evoke the norm of social responsibility—the increase in understanding supplied by the postulation of norms can still be questioned. Because it is assumed that the norm is internalized, and that it gains its power from its ability to evoke positive and negative affect, normative analysis ultimately contains a cognitive-affective base. Understanding of the effects of norms, it would seem, awaits elucidation of their cognitive-affective representations. At any rate, the methods used to study social norms should be different from the operations used to establish their effects. And once norms are identified, focus should shift to the dynamics of their internalization and the conditions of their effect. [4: Berkowitz, L. Beyond exchange: ideals and other factors affecting helping and altruism. Unpublished manuscript, University of Wisconsin, 1968.]
The Norm of G
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