Values, norms, and social cognition

Abstract

In this article I focus mainly on two concepts – values and norms – specifically examining their roles in social cognition. It is a humble effort contributing to a much larger task of understanding their nature and dynamics, the behavior and mental states they generate in groups and individual agents, the intersubjectivity they depend on for effective functioning, and the way they change or sometimes disappear. In the discussion I draw on evidence from several intellectual traditions and their respective methods, including social psychology, sociobiology, evolutionary anthropology, experimental economics, evolutionary psychology, to name just a few. I emphasize the importance of providing an integrated account of what values do and how social norms emerge, why and when we follow them, and the conditions under which we are most likely to focus on relevant cultural normative and axiological ideations. I further examine the existence and evolution of social normativity and its role in the collective welfare.