Emergence and transmission[edit]
Groups may adopt norms through a variety of ways. Norms can arise formally, where groups explicitly outline and implement behavioral expectations. Laws or club rules serve as an example of this.[13] A large number of these norms we follow 'naturally' such as driving on the right side of the road in the US and on the left side in the UK, or not speeding in order to avoid a ticket. Many formal norms serve to provide safety to the general public.
However, social norms are much more likely to develop informally, emerging gradually as a result of repeated use of discretionary stimuli to control behavior.[10][14] Not necessarily laws set in writing, informal norms represent generally accepted and widely sanctioned routines that people follow in everyday life.[15] These informal norms, if broken, may not invite formal legal punishments or sanctions, but instead encourage reprimands, warnings, or othering; incest, for example, is generally thought of as wrong in society, but many jurisdictions do not legally prohibit it.