Everyday norms have become more permissive over time and vary across cultures

Everysocialsituationthatpeopleencounterintheirdailylivescomeswithasetofunwrittenrulesabout 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 mapsocietaldifferences in 150everydaynormsandshowthattheycanbeexplainedby howsocietiesprioritizeindividualizingmoralfoundationssuchascareandlibertyversusbindingmoral foundations suchaspurity. 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.