This review delves into the nuanced boundary conditions of social norms in fostering behavior change within the realm of climate action. Current research is examined within a “Sender - Message - Receiver (SMeR)" framework, which investigates factors such as group identification and group size that influence the effectiveness of social norms. Furthermore, it explores how cultural context, personal norms

Why do individuals tend to discount bad news when making judgements about the likelihood of future events? In this short review, we explore recent research findings regarding this frequently observed and replicated phenomenon – optimism bias – with particular attention on how this bias affects the way individuals update or revise their beliefs. We begin by highlighting five interrelated frameworks

Hoarding disorder (HD) represents a growing public health burden. Although excessive saving is the cardinal feature of this disorder, hoarding is also typically characterised by excessive acquisition of objects, either passively or actively. HD and a related clinical condition, compulsive buying-shopping disorder, are particularly challenging to prevent and treat within the context of consumer society

A central challenge in mental healthcare is effectively disseminating accurate, evidence-based information to encourage behaviors that improve well-being. Nudges, though widely used, often yield small, short-lived effects in changing behaviors. An alternative approach, meta-nudging, uses social influencers to indirectly change beliefs and behaviors by shifting norms within a social group. Meta-nudging

Nudges are a cost-effective and scalable tool used to promote certain choices and have been applied across several domains, such as public health and policy and, more recently, mental health-related behaviors. The likelihood of individuals responding to a nudge (“nudgeability”) is affected by individual traits such as personality and gender. This review synthesizes the effects of personality traits

This review discusses findings on the use of behavioral nudges in both the Canadian and U.S. military. To date, most of this research has focused on improving recruitment and healthy eating behaviors in military personnel. The current review also highlights important areas of future research, focusing on the role behavioral nudges could potentially play in curbing three pressing issues in the U.S.

Individuals with substance misuse and substance use disorder (SUD) experience especially high rates of elevated anxiety, including anxiety disorders, and the co-occurrence of these conditions is related to worse treatment outcomes. Given that these patients may have little motivation to change their substance misuse if they use substances to cope with their chronically elevated anxiety, interventions

This article selects recent developments within the research domain of disability in organizations, exemplified through rigorous and innovative studies. First, the interest in invisible disability types and intersectional approaches to disability is noted. Second, the expansion to stakeholders outside the firm is appraised and personal, organizational and societal aspects of managing disability at

In recent years, scholars from different fields have studied the effects of scarcity on social behaviour, producing mixed findings. This review synthesizes the most recent literature on the topic and proposes a framework to organize the evidence. According to this framework, scarcity produces an attentional shift towards the scarce resource and a cognitive load that triggers heuristic thinking; this

Research into society's informal rules of conduct, or norms, has recently experienced a surge, extending across multiple academic disciplines. Despite this growth, the theoretical modeling of norms often remains siloed within specific paradigms, as different disciplines tend to favor certain frameworks over others, thereby hindering the spread of innovative ideas. This article breaks through disciplinary

This paper examines the dual role of commitment in accelerating the mitigation of maladaptive norms. By drawing on the literature on social norms and commitment, I analyze how commitments (i) explain the deviant behavior of trendsetters and (ii) expedite social change by prompting counterpreferential choices among second movers. Specifically, the paper explores two key aspects of this dynamic: (1)

This paper explores self-control beyond the framework of time discounting, as is conventional in economics and decision research. Contrary to the notion that self-control failures stem from hyperbolic time discounting or present bias, we argue that self-control problems represent conflicts between the motivational thrusts of affects – i.e., emotions, physiological states, and cognitive motivational

Decades of research attest to the role of gender stereotypes in the emergence of gender-based discrimination. Placing a focus on recent studies, we provide evidence that gender stereotypes continue to negatively affect women's career outcomes in jobs and fields that are seen as male in gender-type. We identify two pathways through which gender stereotypes bring about discrimination: Whereas descriptive

This article reviews the state of the art of the literature on perceived age discrimination in organizations from 2010 to 2024. We discuss common conceptions, measurement approaches, and theoretical perspectives on age discrimination. Thereafter, we summarize key findings that differ between studies exploring antecedents of age discrimination and those considering employee and organizational consequences

An increasing number of organizations worldwide are engaging in diversity branding to promote their commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace. In this paper, we review 39 peer-reviewed articles on diversity branding, representing the most recent and significant studies in the field. Our review highlights the prevalence of diversity branding, core conceptual and theoretical approaches, and key

Despite extensive research on group diversity, ambiguity persists regarding its impact on work-related processes and outcomes. Traditionally, research has focused on objective team-level differences, yielding inconsistent effects. This review shifts the focus to perceived diversity—the degree to which team members are aware of one another's differences—and explores its conceptualizations and effects

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are widely adopted by organizations to improve work conditions and career outcomes for disadvantaged groups, yet they often struggle with achieving sustainable change. This paper examines employee resistance as a barrier to DEI initiatives’ success. We review the literature on the conceptualization and study of resistance to DEI initiatives, and offer

This review examines diversity ideologies as influential tools for managing intergroup relations in organizations. Drawing from over two decades of scholarship, we consider our evolving understanding of what diversity ideologies are, how they manifest, and what consequences they have. Diversity ideologies are multi-level constructs that can be espoused or enacted. They are a blueprint for how individuals

This conceptual review explores the full potential of mentoring for diversity initiatives. Using a positive relationships lens, I describe how focusing on average relationships obscures the benefits of high-quality mentoring and how traditional views of mentoring as hierarchical, one-way relationships limit our understanding of its role in advancing social justice. Addressing these limitations, I extend

The current paper explains how modern technology interacts with human psychology to create a funhouse mirror version of social norms. We argue that norms generated on social media often tend to be more extreme than offline norms which can create false perceptions of norms–known as pluralistic ignorance. We integrate research from political science, psychology, and cognitive science to explain how online

Human behavior is heavily influenced by social norms. But when and how do norms persist or change? Complementing work on the role of top-down factors in the enforcement of normative behavior (e.g., sanctioning systems, organizational culture, formal leadership, corrective actions), I introduce a model of bottom-up influences on norm development. I argue that the trajectories of social norms are shaped

We describe a formal model of norm psychology that can be applied to better understand norm change. The model integrates several proximate drivers of normative behavior: beliefs and preferences about a) material payoffs, b) personal norms, c) peer disapproval, d) conformity, and e) authority compliance. Additionally, we review interdisciplinary research on ultimate foundations of these proximate drivers

Social norms govern and prescribe how group members behave. Since norms manifest in individuals' behavior, it is important to consider the cognitive demands associated with detecting and monitoring norm behaviors. Here I describe three types of norms that differ in the behavior they prescribe, the cognitive processes of behavior detection and monitoring they require, and the compliance and cooperative

Numerous psychological biases shape how we respond to observing others conforming to or diverging from social norms. Depending on our social networks, we may be more influenced by societal majorities, such as the widespread consumption of meat or frequent air travel, or by the sustainable lifestyles of our closest friends. The evolution of social norms is shaped by personal preferences, values, beliefs

Social norms are thought to spread through processes of collective contagion, requiring multiple social contacts for diffusion. The spread of harmful social norms is heightened with the spread of misinformation online, especially as falsehoods spread faster than truth. Social inoculation, an intervention approach developed in the 1960s, is an effective prophylactic against harmful social norms spread

As universities and employers strive for greater socioeconomic diversity, understanding First-Generation, Low-Income (FGLI) status as a dimension of diversity is crucial. This review examines how FGLI individuals—who are the first in their families to attain higher education, achieve professional occupations and/or come from low-income backgrounds—are perceived and treated in academic and professional

Norms and institutions enable large-scale human cooperation by creating shared expectations and changing individuals’ incentives via monitoring or sanctioning. Like material technologies, these social technologies satisfy instrumental ends and solve difficult problems. However, the similarities and differences between the evolution of material technologies and the evolution of social technologies remain

Research on inclusion has proliferated in the last twenty years yielding over 188 articles [1] as both academics and practitioners have come to recognize that inclusion provides an opportunity for people of different backgrounds and identities to work together successfully. Inclusion research is wide-ranging and includes multiple actors from different levels of an organization. Studies of inclusion

The heightened focus on racism and colorism in recent years has deepened scholarly attention to the pervasive emergence and impact of racism and colorism within organizations. In this review, we begin by exploring the diverse ways in which racism manifests within organizations. We then address the complexities and variations that exist within racial categories - exploring colorism and the ways targets

LGBTQ + people continue to face bias and discrimination in the workplace. In this article, we focus on one subtle yet insidious manifestation of such bias: heteroprofessionalism. In workplace contexts, professionalism is generally encouraged. However, what is considered professional is subjective and often shaped by those with high status identities such as cis-heterosexuality. LGBTQ + identities are

Humans have two superpowers: reaching desired end-states (goals) and working together (cooperation). We conceptualize these two capabilities as one: collective action control. We discuss ubiquitous processes and (potential) cultural differences in collective action control in the context of two established frameworks—social identity and norms—as well as an emerging attribution of intent perspective

What factors lead children to delay gratification, holding out for larger rewards later instead of taking smaller rewards now? Traditionally, delay of gratification has been associated with effortful control and willpower. However, we propose that delay of gratification may be partially supported by effortless control employed through habits shaped within sociocultural contexts. Specifically, in sociocultural

Scholars are increasingly recognizing that allyship affects allies themselves. Although existing scholarship covers a multitude of constructs, most of the literature focuses on social evaluations and their effects on allyship persistence. We posit that the dual focus on social evaluations and allyship persistence has limited the theoretical insights and applied relevance of scholarship on the consequences

Research on diversity in organizations has mostly focused on attributes that rely on visual cues (e.g., gender, race, age) and overlooked an important source of difference that relies on auditory cues – accents. However, workers with non-standard accents (i.e., non-native accents, regional accents) often experience discrimination and negative outcomes at work. We first review prior accent research

Personnel selection systems affect diversity because they are the way organizations choose who is hired. Research on personnel selection systems and diversity is reviewed, with a particular focus on racial/ethnic diversity. Topics covered include the interrelated concepts of adverse impact and subgroup mean differences, research on why mean differences exist, and which selection predictors (particularly

Research on top management team (TMT) diversity has grown over the past decade as organizations are increasingly recognizing the purported benefits of diverse perspectives. In synthesizing recent research, we review the current state of the top management team diversity literature to answer for questions: (1) What features of TMT contexts make diversity an important consideration? (2) What types of

Managing diversity is becoming increasingly important as the population and workforce become even more diverse and global. Diversity brings both opportunities as well as challenges due to the many types of biases embedded within diversity itself. Diversity training and related initiatives are intended to attack such biases and bring awareness to the destructive nature of bias that can only lead to

We present a broad notion of norms that can accommodate many of its interdisciplinary variants and offers a framework to ask questions about norm change. Rather than examining community norm change, we focus on changes in the individual's norm representations. These representations can be characterized by six properties (including as context specificity, deontic force, prevalence), and we examine which

It is increasingly recognized that successful self-control is not only determined by sheer willpower, but also by people's beliefs about self-control. While early research has provided evidence that people's implicit theories can moderate their subsequent self-control performance, recent research considers the role of metacognition in self-control more comprehensively. In this review, we present an

Self-control – the ability to alter unwanted impulses and behavior to bring them into agreement with goal-driven responses – is key during adolescence. It helps young people navigate through the myriad challenges they encounter while transitioning into adulthood. We review empirical milestones in our understanding of how individual differences in adolescent self-control exist and develop. We show how

Humans evolved to learn from one another. Today, however, learning opportunities often emerge from interactions with AI systems. Here, we argue that learning from AI systems resembles learning from other humans, but may be faster and more efficient. Such ‘hyper learning’ can occur because AI: (i) provides a high signal-to-noise ratio that facilitates learning, (ii) has greater data processing ability

Habits are often beneficial to goal pursuit. They reduce the need for self-control by automating behavior, thereby streamlining decision-making and decreasing temptations and motivational interference. Given that habits outsource behavioral control to the environment, stable performance contexts are critical for habit formation and performance. However, when goals change, unwanted habit memories still

Many societal challenges, for example regarding health and sustainability, are conceptualized as problems of too little self-control: people's long-term goals are jeopardized (e.g., healthy weight, small carbon footprint) because one cannot resist attractive alternatives (e.g., chocolate cake, vacation in the sun). Here, we introduce a different way of conceptualizing those challenges, namely as problems

Self-control is the ability to inhibit temptations and persist in one's decisions about what to do. In this article, we review recent evidence that suggests implicit beliefs about the process of self-control influence how the process operates. While earlier work focused on the moderating influence of willpower beliefs on depletion effects, we survey new directions in the field that emphasize how beliefs

Language plays a crucial role in the transmission of social norms. The way language is used, referred to as language framing, shapes perceptions of social norms. This review synthesizes recent research from various fields to explore the mechanisms through which language framing influences social norm perception. We highlight five key mechanisms: attention redirection, context-specific pragmatic inference

Exploring social norms through a diversity perspective, this review examines whether minorities live in ‘tighter’ worlds, wherein they are subject to stricter rules and punishments. Integrating research from psychology, economics, and organizational behavior, we first examine whether minorities are more likely to have tightness imposed on them—i.e., receive more monitoring and harsher penalties in

We summarize theory and research testing a mechanistic explanation for the trait self-control-health behavior relationship. Specifically, social cognition constructs summarizing individuals' utility, normative, risk, and capacity beliefs with respect to future health behavior performance are proposed to mediate the self-control-health behavior relationship. The effect represents the informational function

Ego depletion theory proposes that self-regulation depends on a limited energy resource (willpower). The simple initial theory has been refined to emphasize conservation rather than resource exhaustion, extended to encompass decision making, planning, and initiative, and linked to physical bodily energy (glucose). Recent challenges offered alternative explanations (which have largely failed) and questioned

Team diversity holds promises and challenges for team performance. The promise of diversity lies in synergy generated from exchange and integration of diverse perspectives; the challenge lies in social categorization processes that give rise to biases favoring similar others over dissimilar others that disrupt team collaboration. I discuss theory capturing these paths to synergetic and disruptive effects

Psychological research on self-control—the forgoing of immediate rewards in favor of global goals—focuses largely on how people monitor and control their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Comparatively less work has examined the regulation of motivational states. This is surprising given the motivational roots of self-control dilemmas: people desire an immediate reward on the one hand, but also recognize

Social decision-making is guided by a complex set of social norms. Computational modeling can play a significant role in enriching our understanding of these norms and how precisely they direct social choices. Here, we highlight three major advantages to using computational modeling, particularly models derived from Utility Theory, in the study of social norms. We illustrate how such models can help

Popular conceptions hold that effort is costly and aversive, causing people to generally avoid effort unless justified. We critically discuss evolutionary, phenomenological, and behavioral arguments supporting this “law of least effort”, proposing that people may approach effort without direct extrinsic benefits. First, a “need for effort” is functional for health and learning. Second, experiencing

Robust associations of self-control with successful goal pursuit have been amply demonstrated. Much less is known about the psychological processes that occur when people grapple with self-control conflicts and that may contribute to successful goal pursuit. Influenced by the neighboring fields of emotion regulation and coping, self-regulatory flexibility has been identified as one of such potential

In this article, we review and summarize key findings from a growing literature exploring how nudges can facilitate efforts to diversify organizations. Nudges are psychologically-informed interventions that change behavior without restricting choice or altering incentives. We focus on two types of nudges to enhance organizational diversity: (1) nudges that target organizational processes directly or

This paper focuses on recent advances in research on strategies that support self-control in everyday life. No one strategy or set of strategies appears to be effective at all times and in all situations. To understand effective self-control, we must expand our understanding of how strategies fit the situation and the person. To this end, we propose researching unexplored aspects of situations, how