The Interplay of Social Identity and Norm Psychology in the Evolution of Human Groups
Kati Kish Bar-On and Ehud Lamm, The Interplay of Social Identity and Norm Psychology in the Evolution of Human Groups. (In preparation) [PDF 
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Keywords: Cultural Evolution
Abstract:
People’s attitudes towards social norms play a crucial role in understanding group behavior. Norm psychology accounts focus on processes of norm internalization that influence people’s norm following attitudes but pay considerably less attention to social identity and group identification processes. Social identity theory studies group identity but works with a relatively thin and instrumental notion of social norms. We argue that to best understand both sets of phenomena, it is important to integrate the insights of both approaches. We highlight tensions between the two approaches and conflicting observations, and sketch the contours of an integrated account. We conclude with some observations on how a twofold account may contribute to studying the evolution of human groups and understanding behavior and social norms in complex societies.
