Looking up and down the hierarchy: Target rank influences perception of descriptive social norm

The present research examines the weight individuals assign to the advice provided by, and the observed behavior of, higher versus lower ranking group members when inferring the descriptive social norms of a group. Across six studies, we demonstrate that when individuals attempt to estimate a group’s social norms they prefer to receive advice from lower ranking individuals and prefer to observe their behavior. Newcomers’ tendency to look toward low ranking individuals for norm information is not due to their disproportionately large number in the group, nor to the newcomers’ expectation that they will hold low ranking positions upon joining the team. We suggest that people’s preference for focusing on lower versus higher ranking individuals when estimating social norms is based on the belief that the former are more