The present research examines how inferences about moral norms from descriptive norms change by perceptions of others' motives in the context of environmental behavior. When individuals think that many others engage in an environmental behavior (e.g., water and energy conservation) for prosocial (vs. proself) motives, they infer moralization about the behavior in a given context. They infer stronger injunctive norms about the behavior and expect others to experience moral outrage at violation of the moral standard (e.g., wasting water and energy). The moral norm perceptions predict people's motivation to engage in environmental behavior themselves. We further show that expected guilt and shame if not engaging in normative behavior explain the effects of prosocial-motivated (vs. proself-motivated) norms. Together, perceived motives behind descriptive norms change people's inferences about moral implications of normative behavior and their motivation to engage in normative behavior.

中文翻译：

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常见的行为被认为是道德的吗？感知到的他人动机在道德规范推理和环境行为动机中的作用


本研究考察了在环境行为背景下，从描述性规范中对道德规范的推断如何因对他人动机的看法而发生变化。当个人认为许多其他人出于亲社会（相对于自我）动机而从事环境行为（例如，节水和节能）时，他们会推断出在特定背景下对这种行为的道德化。他们推断出关于行为的更强的禁令规范，并期望其他人因违反道德标准（例如，浪费水和能源）而感到道德愤慨。道德规范观念预测了人们自己参与环境行为的动机。我们进一步表明，如果不参与规范行为，预期的内疚和羞耻感可以解释亲社会动机（相对于自我动机）规范的影响。总之，描述性规范背后的感知动机改变了人们对规范行为的道德含义以及他们参与规范行为的动机的推断。