Every social situation that people encounter in their daily lives comes with a set of unwritten rules about what behavior is considered appropriate or inappropriate. These everyday norms can vary across societies: some societies may have more permissive norms in general or for certain behaviors, or for certain behaviors in specific situations. In a preregistered survey of 25,422 participants across 90 societies, we map societal differences in 150 everyday norms and show that they can be explained by how societies prioritize individualizing moral foundations such as care and liberty versus binding moral foundations such as purity. Specifically, societies with more individualistic morality tend to have more permissive norms in general (greater liberty) and especially for behaviors deemed vulgar (less purity), but they exhibit less permissive norms for behaviors perceived to have negative consequences in specific situations (greater care). By comparing our data with available data collected twenty years ago, we find a global pattern of change toward more permissive norms overall but less permissive norms for the most vulgar and inconsiderate behaviors. This study explains how social norms vary across behaviors, situations, societies, and time.

AdCogito Institute for Advanced Behavioral Research Vilnius Lithuania

Albaydha University Al Bayda Yemen

Amsterdam School of Economics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands

Brunel University London UK

Caribbean Center for Child Neurodevelopment at WINDREF True Blue West Indies Grenada

CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science Institute of Psychology Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China

CEFOD Business School N'Djamena Chad

Center for Economic Expertise Vilnius University Vilnius Lithuania

Center for Research Publication and Community Service University of Hargeisa Hargeisa Somaliland

Center for Social and Psychological Sciences Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia

Centre de Recherche pour la lutte contre les Maladies Infectieuses Tropicales Université d'Abomey Calavi Abomey Calavi Benin

Centre for Applied Epistemology Educational Research Institute Ljubljana Slovenia

Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming University of Gibraltar Gibraltar Gibraltar

Collegio Carlo Alberto Turin Italy

Departamento de Sociología Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Mexico City Mexico

Département d'Administration des Affaires Faculté d'Administration des Affaires et Sciences Economiques Université Protestante au Congo Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo

Département de Gestion d'Entreprises Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de la Gombe Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo

Department of Applied Mathematics Universidad Galileo Guatemala City Guatemala

Department of Culture Politics and Society University of Turin Turin Italy

Department of Economics Faculty of Economics Management and Accountancy University of Malta Msida Malta

Department of Economics Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington IN USA

Department of Economics Lahore College for Women University Lahore Lahore Pakistan

Department of Economics National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan

Department of Education and Psychology The Open University of Israel Raanana Israel

Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work University of Patras Patras Greece

Department of Finance Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University Riyadh Saudi Arabia

Department of Management Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

Department of Management University of Prishtina Prishtina Kosovo

Department of Media Studies and Journalism University of Liberal Arts Dhaka Bangladesh

Department of Personality Psychology Yerevan State University Yerevan Armenia

Department of Philosophy Macquarie University Sydney Australia

Department of Political Science National Cheng Kung University Tainan Taiwan

Department of Political Science National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Semmelweis University Budapest Hungary

Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Zhejiang University Zhejiang China

Department of Psychology De La Salle University Manila Philippines

Department of Psychology Faculty of Education and Psychology Shahid Beheshti University Tehran Iran

Department of Psychology Faculty of Philosophy University of Niš Niš Serbia

Department of Psychology Faculty of Philosophy University of Novi Sad Novi Sad Serbia

Department of Psychology Faculty of Philosophy University of Sarajevo Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina

Department of Psychology Lund University Lund Sweden

Department of Psychology Moldova State University Chisinau Moldova

Department of Psychology Monk Prayogshala Mumbai India

Department of Psychology Pontifical Catholic University of Peru Lima Peru

Department of Psychology Sunway University Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia

Department of Psychology University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China

Department of Psychology University of Cologne Cologne Germany

Department of Psychology University of Georgia Athens GA USA

Department of Psychology University of Guanajuato Guanajuato Mexico

Department of Psychology University of Nigeria Nsukka Nigeria

Department of Psychology University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand

Department of Psychology University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia

Department of Psychology West University of Timisoara Timișoara Romania

Department of Psychology York University Toronto Canada

Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences American University of Kuwait Salmiya Kuwait

Department of Social Work Education and Community Wellbeing Northumbria University Newcastle UK

Department of Sociology 1st Capital University of Bangladesh Chuadanga Bangladesh

Department of Sociology University of South Carolina Columbia SC USA

Department of Veterinary Medicine University of Rwanda Nyagatare city Rwanda

Department of Women's and Children's Health Uppsala University Uppsala Sweden

Discipline of Social Psychology University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Eduardo Mondlane University Maputo Mozambique

ENCG University Hassan 2 Casablanca Morocco

Escuela de Psicología Universidad César Vallejo Trujillo Peru

Facultad de Administración y Economía Universidad Diego Portales Santiago Chile

Facultad de Psicología Universidad Científica del Sur Lima Peru

Facultad de Psicologìa Universidad de La Habana Habana Cuba

Facultad de Psicología Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Mexico City Mexico

Faculté des Sciences de l'Université de Bangui Bangui Central African Republic

Faculty of Economics Shiga University Hikone Japan

Faculty of Medicine University of Colombo Colombo Sri Lanka

Faculty of Philosophy and Arts Trnava University Trnava Slovakia

Faculty of Psychology and Education Hanoi National University of Education Hanoi Vietnam

Faculty of Psychology SWPS University Warsaw Poland

Faculty of Psychology TU Dresden Dresden Germany

Faculty of Psychology University of Iceland Reykjavík Iceland

Faculty of Social Sciences University of Oran2 Mohamed Ben Ahmed Oran Algeria

Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing College of Education Psychology and Social Work Flinders University Bedford Park SA Australia

Forman Christian College Lahore Pakistan

Gies College of Business University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Champaign IL USA

Homegrown Solutions For Health Research Department Yaoundé Cameroon

HUN REN Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Research Centre of Natural Sciences Budapest Hungary

IESE Business School University of Navarra Madrid Spain

Independent Researcher Prishtina Kosovo

Institut Jean Nicod Département d'études cognitives ENS PSL CNRS Paris France

Institut national supérieur du professorat et de l'éducation de Martinique Université des Antilles Fort de France Martinique France

Institut Pasteur de Bangui Bangui Central African Republic

Institute for Analytical Sociology Linköping University Norrköping Sweden

Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies Rome Italy

Institute for Futures Studies Stockholm Sweden

Institute of Criminology and Public Safety University of Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago

Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica Taipei Taiwan

Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Daugavpils University Daugavpils Latvia

Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czechia

Institute of Psychology ELTE Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary

Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur UNS CONICET Bahía Blanca Argentina

Instituto Universitário de Lisboa ISCTE IUL CIS Lisbon Portugal

International School of Economics Kazakh British Technical University Almaty Kazakhstan

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Tbilisi Georgia

JEDILab Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning Linköping University Linköping Sweden

Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary Institute of Psychology Budapest Hungary

Loughborough Business School Loughborough University Loughborough UK

Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts Skopje North Macedonia

Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods Bonn Germany

Namibia University of Science and Technology Windhoek Namibia

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá Colombia

Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv Plovdiv Bulgaria

Ronald F Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research Higher School of Economics Moscow Russia

School of Education Culture and Communication Mälardalen University Västerås Sweden

School of Education The University of the West Indies Mona Jamaica

School of Geography Universidad de Costa Rica San José Costa Rica

School of Informatics Nagoya University Nagoya Japan

School of Journalism and Communication Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa Ethiopia

School of Psychological Sciences National Autonomous University of Honduras Tegucigalpa Honduras

School of Psychology Cardiff University Cardiff UK

School of Social and Political Sciences University of Glasgow Glasgow UK

School of Social Informatics Aoyama Gakuin University Kanagawa Japan

School of Social Sciences Singapore Management University Singapore Singapore

Smith School of Business Queen's University Kingston Canada

Social Psychology and Policy Lab Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts University of Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia

Stern School of Business New York University New York NY USA

Sungkyunkwan University Seoul South Korea

Tallinn University Tallinn Estonia

Tecnologico de Monterrey Department of Industrial Engineering Guadalajara Mexico

Trinity College Dublin Dublin Ireland

UNEC Empirical Research Center Azerbaijan State University of Economics Baku Azerbaijan

Universal College Bangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

Universidad Católica del Uruguay Montevideo Uruguay

Universidad Privada Norbert Wiener Vicerrectorado de Investigación Lima Peru

Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador San Salvador El Salvador

Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie São Paulo Brazil

University of Zambia School of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Psychology Lusaka Zambia

University of Zimbabwe Harare Zimbabwe

UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and Response University of New South Wales Sydney Australia

VU University Amsterdam The Netherlands

Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation St Georges University True Blue West Indies Grenada

Zoological Society of London London UK

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