Social Scripts

Living in a social world involves knowing how to behave in a given situation. For instance, when people enter a new setting—like an elevator—they rely on past experiences and cultural expectations to guide their behavior.

These factors form a mental blueprint known as a social script—a person’s knowledge of what is culturally expected in a particular setting.

For example, when going out to a restaurant, one couple relies on their social script: they know that they should wait to be seated, make eye contact with the waitress when they are ready to order, and at the end of the meal, leave a generous tip.

Depending on a person’s culture, they may be uncertain of the local script to model. Instead, they frantically flag down the server, and even though service was excellent, they leave a small tip.

As they depart, and pass by several other tables, they start to recognize that their sequence of behaviors—their social script for restaurants—did not match with everyone else’s. However, they can form a new one and act appropriately, to fit in with the locals in the future.

Beyond interpersonal encounters, the media—including music and movies—can also play a role in writing a person’s social script. Video games, in particular, have been in the spotlight for their potential to impact script formation due to their interactive nature and ability to reward certain behaviors.

For instance, a teenager’s social script of driving behavior may be influenced by him playing a racing video game.

More specifically, when he’s behind the wheel, he could be more likely to drive dangerously—speeding and nearly crashing into cars—thus, mimicking his actions during game-play.

Depending on the circumstance, social scripts have the power to induce positive effects—like within the social norms of someone waving to a friend—or they might even encourage risk-taking behaviors if the person’s role model behaves in a such a manner.