Anti-Norm and Pro-Norm Deviance in the Bank and on the Campus: Two Experiments on Subjective Group Dynamics

Abstract

In two experiments, participants evaluated other individuals who deviated in either an anti-or pro-normative direction relative to normative members of the same group. We predicted that individuals would prefer group members who contributed to the validity of in-group norms. In Study 1, anti-norm deviants in an organization attracted more negative evaluations than did pro-norm deviants, even though both were dissimilar to the in-group prototype. Consistent with our model of ‘subjective group dynamics’, evaluations of such deviants were related to perceivers’ identification with their own group. In Study 2, British and Overseas students were more positive toward in-group and out-group members who deviated in the in-group normative direction with respect to university policies for Overseas students. These findings complement the results from laboratory experiments by Abrams, Marques, Bown, and Henson (2000). Reactions to deviance reflect more than just the magnitude of deviance; they are also affected by the group membership of the deviant, and the direction in which that person deviates.