Editing Category:Norms (section)

= Experience =
Experientially, norms are the the thing that makes you go, "I know the answer," before your cortex gets involved and identifies the reasoning. This is how you can find yourself certain of the answer but scrambling to come up with a rationalization.

One common one is "I can't have that but it's OK, I didn't really want it." The "Sour Grapes" norm lets us get on with our lives when we miss out on something, and it typically activates before we have a chance to come up with the reason we don't actually want the thing we can't have. "I didn't actually want those grapes." "Why not?" "... ummm ... Oh! I know; they're probably sour."

Norms can alter or create emotional responses to become action drivers. For example, if you see a person being attacked on the street, you might have an emotional response leading to some sequence of actions like shouting "Stop!" or calling for help. But if the attacker is wearing a police uniform and you have a norm, "Police are good and sometimes have to use force," it would alter the emotional response. Or maybe, "Police are ready to use force and I don't want to catch a beating for interfering."