Someone sneezes across the room and before you even think about it, you say, “Bless you.” You may not be particularly religious, you may not know the person well, and you may not even consciously decide to say it. Yet the response comes almost automatically. Psychology suggests that this tiny everyday behavior can reveal something interesting about social norms, politeness, empathy, conformity and automatic social behavior. The phrase “bless you” has a long cultural history, but its modern use often functions less as a literal religious statement and more as a small ritual of acknowledgment. Researchers studying social norms and interpersonal communication suggest that people learn these unwritten rules early and can eventually perform them almost automatically.
