Everyday norms have become more permissive over time and vary across cultures

Eriksson, Kimmo, Strimling, Pontus, Vartanova, Irina, Simpson, Brent, Persson, Minna, Abdi, Khalid Ahmed, Ad, Neta, Aldashev, Alisher, Ali, Habib Mohammad, Alì, Maurizio, Aliyev, Khatai, Alrefaee, Yasser M. H. A., Alvarado Ortiz, Alberth Estuardo, Andersson, Per A., Andrighetto, Giulia, Arikan, Gizem, Aruta, John Jamir Benzon R., Ayikwa, Christian Lutete, Baños-Chaparro, Jonatan, Barrera, Davide, Barsyte, Justina, Batkeyev, Birzhan, Batool, Azma, Berezina, Elizaveta, Bimina, Stéphanie Ngandu, Björnstjerna, Marie, Blumen, Sheyla, Boski, Paweł, Boštjančič, Eva, Boum, Yap, Briguglio, Marie, Bruno, Kagonbe, Bui, Huyen Thi Thu, Caycho-Rodríguez, Tomás, Chen, Yanyan, Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai, Choi, Hoon-Seok, Contreras-Ibáñez, Carlos C., Čorkalo, Dinka, Cruz-Torres, Christian E., Czakó, Andrea, de Zoysa, Piyanjali, Demetrovics, Zsolt, Dinić, Bojana M., Drače, Saša, El-Haddad, Rita W., Engelmann, Jan B., Escudero Pérez, Ignacio, Euh, Hyun, Fang, Xia, Frank, Celine, Freidin, Esteban, Fulop, Marta, Gamsakhurdia, Vladimer, García Jiménez, Mauro Alberto, Gardarsdottir, Ragna B., Gavreliuc, Alin, Gill, Colin Mathew Hugues D., Gjoneska, Biljana, Glöckner, Andreas, Graf, Sylvie, Grigoryan, Ani, Growiec, Katarzyna, Haas, Brian W., Haddock, Geoffrey ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5293-2772, Hadjisolomou, Stavros P., Hadžiahmetović, Nina, Haji Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hosein, Hakoköngäs, Eemeli, Halama, Peter, Hapunda, Given, Hartanto, Andree, Hazrati, Mahsa, Herbas-Torrico, Boris Christian, Holka, Szilárd, Hřebíčková, Martina, Hunter, John A., Ibikounle, Moudachirou, Ilisko, Dzintra, Lind Hjördísar Jónsdóttir, Harpa, Kaminskiene, Zivile, Kapoor, Hansika, Kapović, Iva, Karim, Gassemi, Kawakami, Kerry, Khachatryan, Narine, Kirschner, Julian B., Kiruja, Jonah, Kiyonari, Toko, Kohút, Michal, Kousar, Shazia, Krasniqi, Besnik, Lado, Ludovic, Landa-Blanco, Miguel, Landon, Barbara, Lep, Žan, Leslie, Lisa M., Li, Yang, Liik, Kadi, Lin, Ming-Jen, Lobos Rivera, Marlon Elías, López-López, Wilson, Maloku, Edona, Mandal, Mohona, Manhique, Bernardo Ananias, Mbende, Nathan Mpeti, Medhioub, Imed, Teixeira, Maria Luisa Mendes, Merchán Tamayo, J. Paola, Mohammed, Linda Lila, Moore, Schontal N., Moraligil, Bahar, Muradzada, Nijat, Nanda, Herwin, Nastina, Ekaterina, Nejat, Pegah, Nettle, Daniel, Nipassa, Orlando Julio Andre, Noe-Grijalva, Martin, Ntampaka, Pie, Ntone, Rodrigue, Nussinson, Ravit, Oljača, Milan, Onyedire, Nneoma G., Onyishi, Ike E., Panagiotopoulou, Penny, Alvarez, Daybel Pañellas, Parvez, Md. Shahin, Pasin, Gian Luca, Pedović, Ivana, Pérez de León, Pablo, Perez Floriano, Lorena R., Pop-Jordanova, Nada, Portillo, Jose Roberto, Potang, Angela, Quesada-Román, Adolfo, Raver, Jana L., Rodrigues, Ricardo B., Rodríguez-Romero, Juan Diego, Romanò, Sara, Ross, Robert M., Rosun, Nachita, Sadiković, Selka, San Martin, Alvaro, Smederevac, Snežana, Smith, Sarah Jane, Soboleva, Natalia, Sonessa, Daniel Erena, Stanley, Samantha K., Stoyanova, Kristina, Stoyanov, Drozdstoy, Takemura, Kosuke, Thøgersen, John, Tiliouine, Habib, Tung, Hans, Ulambayar, Tungalag, Uzdavinyte, Elze Marija, Waechter, Randall, Wang, Yi-Ting, Wu, Junhui, Yambio, Brice Martial, Yankson, Eric, Yeh, Kuang-Hui and Van Lange, Paul A. M. 2025. Everyday norms have become more permissive over time and vary across cultures. Communications Psychology 3 , 145. 10.1038/s44271-025-00324-4

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Abstract

Every social situation that people encounter in their daily lives comes with a set of unwritten rules about what behavior is considered appropriate or inappropriate. These everyday norms can vary across societies: some societies may have more permissive norms in general or for certain behaviors, or for certain behaviors in specific situations. In a preregistered survey of 25,422 participants across 90 societies, we map societal differences in 150 everyday norms and show that they can be explained by how societies prioritize individualizing moral foundations such as care and liberty versus binding moral foundations such as purity. Specifically, societies with more individualistic morality tend to have more permissive norms in general (greater liberty) and especially for behaviors deemed vulgar (less purity), but they exhibit less permissive norms for behaviors perceived to have negative consequences in specific situations (greater care). By comparing our data with available data collected twenty years ago, we find a global pattern of change toward more permissive norms overall but less permissive norms for the most vulgar and inconsiderate behaviors. This study explains how social norms vary across behaviors, situations, societies, and time.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2731-9121
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 October 2025
Date of Acceptance:	15 September 2025
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2025 12:47
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181573

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