How Group Norms Affect Individual Behavior

How Group Norms Affect Individual Behavior
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How Group Norms Affect Individual Behavior People who join in small or large groups tend to develop certain ways of carrying out their daily activities while embracing equally unique behavioral characteristics that define the group’s identity. These groups provide a sense of belonging and identity, security, and companionship to their members. Groups also share characteristic features such as interdependence among individual members, unity of purpose, favoritism, social interaction, and unanimous agreement among members to form or be part of the group (More 175). The intersection of all these features of a group and the underlying reasons for joining or forming them reinforce the behavioral orientation of the collective as a unit. The ensuing group’s behavioral orientation tends to influence individual members' behaviors. In essence, members of a group share a unique code of conduct or standards that regulate their interactions within the organization. The group norms are the set standards or code of conduct within a given collective. These group norms influence or regulate how members behave within an organization while also affecting their decision-making abilities (More 175). It suffices, therefore, that group norms of the standards of behavior embraced by a given group can have either positive or negative effects on an individual’s behavior. How then do group norms affect individual behavior? Group norms dictate the processes through which members of a collective influence and regulate the behaviors of individual members. The set code of conduct among group members focuses more on behaviors considered important by the majority. For instance, group norms serve to enhance the group’s survival amidst challenges or threats against achieving the set goals and objectives. Group norms ensure that individuals embrace goal-oriented behaviors when faced with challenges or threats to the group’s survival (Ashford 153). The group norms also create platforms for members to anticipate the behaviors of other group members when dealing with certain situations or circumstances. Individual group members rely on the group norms to know how they are expected to behave when addressing issues faced. The group norms also allow individual members to determine the pros and cons of their behaviors based on what is set as the acceptable or unacceptable code of behavioral conduct. The expected behaviors of group members based on the group norms also help them identify and realize when their behaviors are out of line or hurtful to other group members. Group norms also help individual members ad...