Pathways from Norms to Intentions: a Developmental Perspective

Intentions are one of the strongest predictors of human behavior, and social norms play a crucial role in shaping intentions. Yet, it is unclear how these norms promote novel intentions and whether underlying mechanisms differ across life stages. We examined how group norms impact intentions directly and indirectly by altering individuals' personal norms, and how the strength of these effects vary with social similarity and age. We compared intention change pathways between emerging adults (ages 18-24) and adults (ages 35-45) in two controlled two-wave experiments (total N=336). We hypothesized that emerging adults, who are still forming their identity, would be more influenced by group norms, particularly indirectly via norm internalization. We show that group norms have the potential to promote the formation of socially desirable personal norms and intentions. Moreover, the impact of group norms on intention change occurs both directly and indirectly via norm internalization. Contrary to our predictions we did not find evidence that age moderates the impact of group norms on intentions. However, only emerging adults are more strongly influenced by the social similarity of the source. Together, our findings suggest that there are two independent pathways in which group norms shape intentions, and the relative contribution of these pathways is rather stable from emerging adulthood onwards.