1047 Silence and Table Manners: When Environments Activate Norms Janneke F. Joly University of Groningen Diederik A. Stapel Tilburg University Siegwart M. Lindenberg University of Groningen (Sherif, 1965), and individual goals, such as managing one’s self-concept (Cialdini & Trost, 1998). To date, most research on social norms has asked whether norms predict behavior and, if so, under what conditions (e.g., Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2003; Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990; Latane & Darley, 1970; Pepitone, 1976). Previous research has shown that norms can pre- dict behavior when they are salient and relevant for immediate behavior (Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2003; Cialdini et al., 1990). For example, the norm to be silent in the library predicts voice intensity when people see a picture of a library and intend to visit one (Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2003). The objective of the present studies was to explore what, besides intention to visit, determines Authors’ Note: Janneke F. Joly, Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, University of Groningen; Diederik A. Stapel, Department of Cognitive Social Psychology; Siegwart Lindenberg, Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, University of Groningen. Diederik A. Stapel is now at Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research, Tilburg University. This research and writing was supported by a Pionier grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) awarded to the second author and a Breedtestrategie II grant of the University of Groningen awarded to the second and third authors. We thank Tom Snijders and Mark Huisman for their statistical advice. We also thank Paula Niedenthal, Robert Cialdini, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions and comments. Address correspondence to D. A. Stapel, Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, Netherlands; e-mail: d.a.stapel@uvt.nl. PSPB, Vol. 34 No. 8, August 2008 1047-1056 DOI: 10.1177/0146167208318401 © 2008 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. Two studies tested the conditions under which an envi- ronment (e.g., library, restaurant) raises the relevance of environment-specific social norms (e.g., being quiet, using table manners). As hypothesized, the relevance of such norms is raised when environments are goal rele- vant (“I am going there later”) and when they are humanized with people or the remnants of their presence (e.g., a glass of wine on a table). Two studies show that goal-relevant environments and humanized environ- ments raise the perceived importance of norms (Study 1) and the intention to conform to norms (Study 2). Interestingly, in both studies, these effects reach beyond norms related to the environments used in the studies. Keywords: norms; situationist perspective; social influence; priming; environment E nvironments influence who we are and what we do. At least that is the premise of the situationist perspective in social psychology (e.g., Ross & Nisbett, 1991). In the present article, we test the boundaries of such a situation- ist view and investigate the extent to which an environ- ment can increase the salience of social norms: Can environments activate normative beliefs all by themselves? Do table manners become more important in a fancy restaurant than at home? Can a picture of a whole-food store make people act in a environment-friendly manner? And if environments can activate norms, under which conditions are they most likely to do so? Social norms such as table manners are rules and stan- dards imposed by members of a social group. It is impor- tant that people conform to norms to accomplish group goals, such as building and maintaining relationships © 2008 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. at University of Groningen on August 12, 2008 http://psp.sagepub.com Downloaded from