Norms are shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups, which can be informal understandings or codified into rules and laws. They are a fundamental concept in the social sciences, most commonly defined as rules or expectations that are socially enforced. Norms can be prescriptive, encouraging positive behavior, or proscriptive, discouraging negative behavior. They play a crucial role in maintaining social order and promoting social control.
In addition to their social and behavioral aspects, norms can also refer to the average or standard performance of a significantly large group, class, or grade. For example, the norm for fifth-grade arithmetic scores would be the average performance of fifth-grade students.
