Normative Force of generic-you

This project examines whether subtle shifts in language can affect people's endorsement of unfamiliar norms. Across five experiments (main text: N = 800) we test whether people judge behaviors described with generic-you (i.e., "You" that refers to people in general, e.g., "You carry an umbrella in the rain") as more normatively correct than behaviors described with "I" or third-person singular pronouns (i.e., "he" or "she"). Supplementary experiments 1-2 (N = 249) examine other linguistic cues that can also signal whether a given action is general.