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This vignette-based study examined the willingness to feign symptoms to obtain a prescription following an analysis on who might use prescription stimulants to enhance performance ( N = 3,468). It experimentally manipulated three factors: the social disapproval of prescription stimulant use for enhancement purposes, the physicians’ diagnostic efforts, and the medical condition (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy); respondent characteristics of self-control, personal morality, and self-efficacy were also measured. Our results showed that social disapproval of prescription drug use, a personal morality that disapproves of drug use, high self-control, and high self-efficacy were negatively associated with the willingness to use. Willingness increased especially in situations of social approval when there was a stronger personal approval of drug use, or surprisingly when physicians’ diagnostic efforts were higher. The feigning willingness was lower in situations of social disapproval and when personal morality disapproved of feigning. Thus, personal and situational characteristics are relevant to understand both behaviors.

Despite evidence that a majority of people in the United States say that they want more civil politics, candidates still use incivility strategically during campaigns. Distinguishing between descriptive and injunctive norms may help explain this apparent contradiction. This study presents an experiment conducted with participants recruited at 2020 Democratic Iowa Caucus rallies that tested whether (a) individuals differ in their descriptive and injunctive normative beliefs about a variety of uncivil behaviors and (b) candidate characteristics such as gender and insider/outsider status in a party influence respondents’ normative beliefs. Findings suggest that, while descriptive and injunctive norms align for some campaign behaviors, they do not for all behaviors, such as sharing false information and using insults. Additionally, men and women candidates, as well as political insider and outsider candidates, are expected to behave differently but are held to the same injunctively normative standard when uncivil behaviors are attributed to them. Future incivility researchers should continue investigating descriptive and injunctive norms to investigate whether voters dismiss descriptively common behaviors during campaigns, even if they perceive those behaviors as inappropriate and uncivil.

The present study assessed support for an innovative model of the direct and indirect paths through which perceived peer norms regarding the prevalence and acceptability of sexual violence (SV) and relationship abuse (RA) may influence the decisional process leading to bystander intervention. Analyses included baseline and 6-month follow-up data collected from a large sample of high school students ( N = 2,303) across 27 schools in the Northeastern United States. Path analyses were conducted to test a multiple mediation model of the direct and indirect associations among the sequential predictors of perceived descriptive and injunctive norms, personal attitudes, abuse perceptions, risk recognition, and dependent measures of bystander behaviors at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Higher perceptions of the prevalence (descriptive norms) and acceptability (injunctive norms) of SV and RA among peers were associated with more accepting personal attitudes toward SV and RA, which were associated with lower abuse perceptions and risk recognition. Furthermore, lower abuse perceptions and risk recognition were associated with decreases in bystander behaviors at both time points. Mediational analyses revealed several significant indirect paths through which higher perceptions of descriptive and injunctive norms contributed to decreases in bystander behavior. Findings provide novel evidence of the prospective influence of perceived norms on bystander intervention behavior in situations of SV and RA.

This article reports on a U.K. research study encompassing two surveys which used evidence-based scales of awareness, confidence to intervene, and intervention opportunities and action regarding sexual and domestic abuse on campus. They were sent to all first-year incoming undergraduates (> n = 7,000) at one post-1992 U.K. university and received n = 1,604 responses. The study finds that survey respondents demonstrated low awareness of sexual and domestic abuse as a problem on campus. In the analysis of Survey 2, respondents were divided into three groups, those receiving active intervention, passive intervention, and no intervention from a university social norms marketing campaign challenging abuse on campus. The study drives the field forward by considering how confidence to act mediates the relationship between awareness and positive action. It finds associations between active intervention and raised awareness that is not noted in passive or no intervention. Active intervention potentially brings together the mediating variable of confidence where awareness + confidence = positive action. This article makes recommendations for first-year incoming undergraduates to receive awareness raising information about sexual and domestic abuse, prior to coming to university. Universities may also consider working with schools to counter a lack of awareness, which may emanate from normalization discourses learnt prior to coming to university and perpetuated once there. Managing low awareness of sexual and domestic abuse should be a priority of bystander programs and some form of active intervention is potentially beneficial as early as possible in university student journeys.

Social norms shape consumer behavior. However, it is not clear under what circumstances social norms are more versus less effective in doing so. This gap is addressed through an interdisciplinary meta-analysis examining the impact of social norms on consumer behavior across a wide array of contexts involving the purchase, consumption, use, and disposal of products and services, including socially approved (e.g., fruit consumption, donations) and disapproved (e.g., smoking, gambling) behaviors. Drawing from reactance theory and based on a cross-disciplinary data set of 250 effect sizes from research spanning 1978–2019 representing 112,478 respondents from 22 countries, the authors examine the effects of five categories of moderators of the effectiveness of social norms on consumer behavior: (1) target behavior characteristics, (2) communication factors, (3) consumer costs, (4) environmental factors, and (5) methodological characteristics. The findings suggest that while the effect of social norms on approved behavior is stable across time and cultures, their effect on disapproved behavior has grown over time and is stronger in survival and traditional cultures. Communications identifying specific organizations or close group members enhance compliance with social norms, as does the presence of monetary costs. The authors leverage their findings to offer managerial implications and a future research agenda for the field.

Do social roles affect injunctive norms for behavior and more so in Chinese than American cultural contexts? We use mixed methods to analyze open-ended data describing appropriate behavior within social roles that differ in interpersonal closeness and relative status. American ( N = 401) and Chinese ( N = 392) participants provided descriptions of ideal behavior of two actors in one of 16 role dyads. The 2,219 (American) and 1,466 (Chinese) behavior descriptions were coded into 71 content categories, forming profiles of appropriate behavior for six social roles (Close/Distant × Low/Equal/High status). First, we adapt a method for assessing profile similarity in personality psychology to quantitatively evaluate how closeness and status affect similarity between the six social roles. By separating profiles into normative (average behavior) and distinctive (behavior specific to a particular social role) components, we find that distinctive behavioral profiles for specific social roles vary systematically by closeness/status in both American and Chinese data; we also find a larger effect of closeness in Chinese data. Second, we qualitatively analyze the content of the distinctive behavioral profiles through the lens of the rapport management model, showing how rights and obligations associated with each role vary, and finding cultural differences in which behaviors appropriately manage these expectations. Quantitative findings emphasize the cross-cultural importance of interpersonal situations for determining appropriate behavior, with some evidence for a greater effect in Chinese culture; qualitative results reveal the culturally specific ways in which relational situations direct expectations for behavior.

Brush and Miller’s paper is critical of gender-transformative interventions and they believe that the paradigm is in trouble. In this response, we examine the body of evidence and the conceptual frames that undergird gender-transformative interventions, along with the emergence of these interventions and their efficacy. We argue here that it is reductionist to state either (a) that gender-transformative programs do not work, or (b) that gender-transformative programs only rely on social norms theory. We reveal how these claims omit important developments emerging from research on homophobia, feminist thought, and intersectionality that have made their way into gender-transformative interventions in several countries. We show that the implementation of gender-transformative interventions is far from uniform and we examine how changing power relations, relationships, communities, and masculinities, as well as other structures and practices that negatively influence health and well-being are integrated into this large body of work. We highlight how gender-transformative interventions show solid promise on balance, as measured in several evaluation studies in several settings, when implemented well and sustained. Overall then, gender-transformative interventions represent a tremendous advance over the previous “risk group-focused,” single-topic approaches with men that have been implemented in public and global health interventions.

As a concept, political correctness has supporters and detractors. In the current study, company policies aimed at promoting political correctness in organizations are examined. First, the nature of political correctness is explored to provide a clearer understanding of what is connoted by the term. Second, the effects of organizational policies promoting political correctness on perceived creativity in the workplace are examined. The findings, based on 215 men and 205 women, reveal a two-factor structure to political correctness: inclusiveness and micro-aggressions. Differences emerge for policies that promote inclusiveness and those aligned with micro-aggressions with regard to perceived workplace creativity.

The present study investigated the effect of descriptive and injunctive norms of peers, parents, and favorite celebrities on adolescents’ negative online behavior toward celebrities. The sample consisted of 1,255 adolescents ([Formula: see text] = 14.17, SD = 0.47). Adolescents indicated what their peers, parents, and favorite celebrities think of celebrity bashing (injunctive norms) and whether they engage in it (descriptive norms). The adolescents also indicated how often they had participated in negative online behavior toward celebrities and peers. The results revealed that compared with injunctive norms, descriptive norms are better predictors of adolescents’ negative online behavior toward celebrities. Focusing on the different role models, the impact of peers was the strongest for both mild and severe forms of celebrity aggression. Moreover, the results showed that adolescents who engage in negative online behavior directed at celebrities are likely to do the same regarding peers.

Social norms have been successfully applied in health promotion and environmental conservation, but their potential for encouraging natural hazard preparation is relatively untested. This research extends the focus theory of normative conduct to natural hazards and cognitive-behavioral outcomes by examining whether focusing individuals on descriptive and injunctive norms increases their support for earthquake-strengthening legislation in a seismically active city: Wellington, New Zealand. In a large community sample ( N = 690), the injunctive norm condition increased support for the legislation compared with the control, whereas the descriptive norm condition did not. In contrast, the descriptive norm condition raised judgments of the feasibility of the strengthening work compared with the control, whereas the injunctive norm condition did not. These findings support previous research demonstrating the differing effects of descriptive and injunctive forms of normative information, and suggest that using both in the same communication is the best strategy for enhancing support for earthquake-strengthening legislation.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the determinants of sugary drink consumption among overweight and obese adults attempting to lose weight using the Integrative Model of Behavioural Prediction (IMB). Design: Cross-sectional design. Method: Determinants of behavioural intentions (attitudes, perceived norms and perceived behavioural control [PBC]) and sugary drink consumption (intentions, skills/abilities, environment and PBC) were evaluated using data collected at a weight loss clinic in a southwestern US city ( n = 338). Determinants of attitudes, injunctive norms, descriptive norms and PBC were evaluated using salient beliefs, which were derived from an elicitation study. Results: Using structural equation modelling, two separate models were evaluated. Both models had good fit (combined model – Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = .970, Tucker–Lewis Index [TLI] = .921, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = .062; expanded model – CFI = .966, TLI = .911, RMSEA = .060) and accounted for a significant amount of variance for intentions (40.7%–42%) and sugary drink consumption (16.2%). Conclusion: The IMB appears to be an effective model for planning health education interventions. Health practitioners should operationalise behaviour change techniques and strategies that target attitudes, perceived norms and PBC using the salient beliefs evaluated in this study.

The current study assessed the relative influence of both injunctive and descriptive norms in the context of different referent groups (i.e., family, street peers, home-based peers, and staff members) on past 30-day methamphetamine, heroin, and injection drug use behaviors of homeless youth. Cross-sectional data ( N = 911) were collected from three drop-in centers in Los Angeles, California. The study consisted of two parts: a social network interview and a computerized self-administered survey. Multivariate logistic regression models examined the association of objection to drug use from referent groups (injunctive norms; that is, street-based peers, home-based peers, relatives, staff members) and drug use of referent groups (descriptive norms) with youths’ substance use behaviors. Multivariate results indicated that the role of injunctive and descriptive norms varied across the three substance use behaviors and by referent group. Findings indicate the need to carefully consider the diversity of homeless youths’ networks in designing substance use interventions.

The main aim of this study was to examine the norms of expressing emotions on social media. Specifically, the perceived appropriateness (i.e. injunctive norms) of expressing six discrete emotions (i.e. sadness, anger, disappointment, worry, joy, and pride) was investigated across four different social media platforms. Drawing on data collected in March 2016 among 1201 young Dutch users (15–25 years), we found that positive expressions were generally perceived as more appropriate than negative expressions across all platforms. In line with the objective of the study, some platform differences were found. The expression of negative emotions was rated as most appropriate for WhatsApp, followed by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For positive emotion expression, perceived appropriateness was highest for WhatsApp, followed by Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Additionally, some gender differences were found, while age showed little variations. Overall, the results contribute to a more informed understanding of emotion expression online.

We adopt a recently introduced incentivized method to elicit widely shared beliefs concerning (a) social norms, (b) environmental effect, and (c) difficulty of a wide range of environmental behaviors. We establish that these characteristics, as reflected in elicited beliefs recorded in one sample, predict (out-of-sample) environmental behaviors in a second separate sample. Pro-environmental behaviors perceived to be more socially appropriate and easier to perform, in particular, are more likely to be chosen. We show that subjective social norms mediate the effect of “global” (widely shared) social norms on behavior, which improves our understanding of the normative processes underlying pro-environmental action. Our use of an incentivized elicitation method might moreover mitigate problems associated with conventional surveys, such as social desirability bias, consistency bias, and inattentive responding, as discussed in the article.

From the Food and Drug Administration's efforts to prompt healthier eating to the Environmental Protection Agency's desire to prompt people to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors, a wide range of policy makers aim to persuade consumers. To do so, they must decide how and whether to use information about the behavior of other consumers as part of their persuasive message. In four experimental studies, the authors demonstrate that the persuasive advantage of high- versus low-consensus information depends on the target consumer's trait level of susceptibility to interpersonal influence (SII). Low-SII consumers differentiate between low- and high-consensus information, such that they are more persuaded by high-consensus information. In contrast, high-SII consumers find any cue about the behavior of others persuasive, regardless of whether it is high or low consensus. Importantly, this finding suggests that policy makers may find success motivating behavioral change even in low-consensus situations. The authors close by reporting data from two broadscale correlational surveys that identify behavioral, psychographic, and demographic characteristics related to consumer SII as well as domains in which low consensus currently exists, so that policy makers can identify and target these individuals and related issues.

A self-report survey of first-year college students ( n = 421; 46% female) included measures of perceived prototype, attitude and injunctive norm accessibility, past drinking behavior, and future drinking intention. Both norm accessibility and prototype perception were significant predictors of intention to drink in the future among first-year college students. The effect of prototypes on drinking diminished as pro-drinking norms became more accessible, indicating greater automaticity of drinking decision-making. Theoretical models of drinking intention should include both normative constructs and prototypes. Implications for interventions to reduce college student drinking are discussed.

While it is well understood that adolescent religiosity is associated with the use and abuse of licit and illicit substances, few studies have revealed the pathways through which religiosity buffers youth against involvement in such behavior. The aim of this study is to examine the complexity of the relationships between religiosity, sensation seeking, injunctive norms, and adolescent substance use. Using a national sample of adolescents ( N = 18,614), negative binomial regression and path analysis were used to examine the various components of the relationship between religiosity and the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Results indicate that private religiosity moderates the relationship between key risk factors and substance use. Public and private religiosity were associated with tolerant injunctive substance use norms which, in turn, were associated with substance use. Implications for research and theory related to religiosity and adolescent substance use are discussed.

High drop-out rates among first-year university students have led many researchers to attempt to gain a better understanding of academic persistence. However, despite this extensive literature, only a few studies have taken normative factors into account. These normative factors may be an essential factor of influence for persistence as it is already the case for other behaviors. We therefore decided to study whether including injunctive and descriptive norms in the investigation might improve the understanding of persistence. To this end, we focused on the theory of planned behaviour which considers for background, motivational, and normative factors. Seven hundred and twenty-seven first-year college students were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. A structural equation modeling technique revealed that the model including injunctive norms fits better with the data than the model without norms. However, this was not the case with descriptive norms. These results are examined in the Discussion section. Finally, directions for future research and practical implications are suggested.

The focus theory of normative conduct asserts that distinct processes are involved in responding to injunctive norms versus descriptive norms. This research tested the prediction that guilt would be more strongly involved in motivating conformity to injunctive than descriptive norms. Study 1 demonstrates that people anticipate feeling guiltier following injunctive than descriptive norm violations. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that guilt proneness and state-level guilt enhance the persuasiveness of messages framed with injunctive norms but not control-framed or descriptive norm–framed messages. Finally, Study 4 shows that a guilt-arousing public service announcement is more effective if framed using an injunctive norm than a descriptive norm or a control message. These results augment understanding of the different ways that injunctive and descriptive norms influence behavior and have applied implications for social norms marketing interventions.

Extending the influence of presumed media influence model, this study examined direct and indirect media influences on pro-environmental behavioral intentions. We empirically tested perceived media influence on others as a distinct and independent mediator between perceived media exposure of others and perceived social norms, using a nationally representative sample of 1,144 Singaporeans. Using structural equation modeling, influence of presumed media influence accounted for direct and indirect media effects on attitudes, social norms, and pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Perceived media influence on others was associated with behavioral intentions. Attitudes, descriptive, and subjective norms accounted further for this relationship. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed. MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore) Accepted version

Descriptive norms, or cognitions concerning the dominant beliefs, values, and behaviors of a particular reference group, are distinct from personal values and predict a wide range of cultural behavior. However, questions remain as to when and in what contexts descriptive norms predict behavior and what cultural, situational, and individual difference factors influence their motivational force. In this article, we focus on three primary motive goals that may help us determine when descriptive norms are particularly predictive: the goal to manage uncertainty and threat, the goal to manage impressions, and goals derived from power and dependence. We argue that descriptive norms serve important epistemic, identity, and social coordinative functions that help satisfy these goals.

In the target article, Gelfand and Harrington have outlined three important motivations concerning when and for whom descriptive norms (i.e., personal cognition about what people do) guide behavior. The effects of these motivations likely vary substantially across and even within cultures, as informed by research in cultural psychology. In this commentary, we will discuss how power and residential mobility may moderate the effects of norms on social behaviors, within and across cultures.

Supplementing Gelfand and Harrington’s exclusive focus on descriptive norms, we speculate how cultural lay beliefs may play a role to reconcile the discrepancy between descriptive and injunctive norms. For example, although violation of traffic laws and bribery are socially condemned, they are prevalent in China. Because of the differential beliefs in individual agency versus collective agency, the discrepancy between descriptive and injunctive norms could have different meanings, thereby eliciting different dissonance in collectivist (interdependent) and individualist (independent) cultures. Keywords cultural psychology, descriptive norm, injunctive norm, belief, agencyGelfand and Harrington (in press) define descriptive norms as personal cognitions concerning the dominant beliefs, values, and behaviors of a particular reference group, and discussed how dif-ferent motivational factors may mediate the cross-cultural differences in compliance to the descriptive norms. Although Gelfand and Harrington do not explicitly differentiate descriptive norms (what

This research evaluates the impact of social norms on the advancement through the bystander stages toward prosocial (active) intervention in interpersonal violence (IPV): emotional abuse, physical violence, controlling behavior, sexual violence, and stalking. The influence of social norms on bystander behavior across stages and types of violence varies. Accurate social norms perceptions are associated with routine intervention, although social norms misperceptions are not always a strong deterrent to intervention. Interpretation of a violent situation as problematic predicts increased willingness to intervene. Implications for the development of social norms antiviolence campaigns and strategies for reducing barriers to prosocial intervention are discussed.

Fruit and vegetable (FV) attitudes and norms have been shown to influence intake in youth; yet research with low-income youth and studies supplementing self-report with objective measures of intake are lacking. Cross-sectional survey data on self-rated FV intake, FV attitudes, and FV norms were collected in a sample of 116 youth attending a residential summer camp serving low-income families. FV intake also was estimated by direct observation. Differences between self-rated and observed FV intake, perceived and observed peer intake, and perceived and peer-reported attitudes toward eating FVs were assessed with paired samples t tests. The role of FV attitudes, descriptive norms (perceived peer FV intake), injunctive norms (perceived peer attitudes toward eating FVs), and actual norms (observed peer FV intake and peer-reported FV attitudes) in predicting FV intake also was examined with multiple regression analysis. Youth misperceived their own and their peers’ FV intake (i.e., overestimated intake of fruit and underestimated intake of vegetables) and believed that peers held less favorable attitudes toward eating FVs than was the case. The models predicting self-rated intake were significant, accounting for 34% of the variance in fruit intake and 28% of the variance in vegetable intake. Attitudes and descriptive norms were positively associated with FV intake, and observed peer fruit intake was negatively associated with fruit intake. Findings suggest that in low-income youth, FV attitudes, descriptive norms, and normative peer behavior predict perceived but not actual intake. Youth may benefit from intervention to promote favorable FV attitudes and norms. A focus on descriptive norms holds promise for improving self-rated intake in this population.

Across three experiments involving different target behaviors, the trait of impulsivity reduced the effectiveness of persuasive messages framed using injunctive norms. In two of the three experiments, the trait of impulse restraint heightened the effectiveness of these same injunctive norm messages. No evidence was obtained for these traits as moderators when descriptive norms were used to frame messages or when no-norm control conditions were used. Taken together, these results are consistent with past evidence that effortful self-control processes are involved in the process of following injunctive social norms. Results also provide converging support for a theoretical perspective, suggesting that injunctive norms are associated with a specialized set of response tendencies that encourage group-oriented behavior.

This study examined the relations of unintentional exposure to Internet sexual content to intentions for sex and condom use and potential mediators of these relations, including attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy, among college students in China. A sample of 524 Chinese college students completed an online questionnaire. Mediation path analyses were conducted to test the theory of planned behavior as a model of the relations between unintentional exposure and intentions to have sex and use condoms. On average, students reported being unintentionally exposed to Internet sexual content about 3 to 4 times during the past month. Unintentional exposure was indirectly associated with intention to have sex, mediated through descriptive and injunctive norms. Descriptive norm was a stronger mediator for females than males. In contrast, unintentional exposure was unrelated to condom-use intention and mediators. The theory of planned behavior provides a model for the development of Internet-based interventions with these students.

A wide body of research has documented the relationship between social norms and individual behaviors. There is growing evidence that academic behaviors in early adolescence—when most children begin middle school—may be subject to normative influence as well. However, the structure and composition of peer relationships within middle schools have yet to be fully incorporated into current conceptualizations of academic norms. A social network approach that considers the structure of students’ friendship networks can be a useful framework for informing understanding of middle school academic norms. This article integrates research and theory on social norms and social networks to introduce a model to improve understanding of academic norms in middle schools. Implications for future research are discussed.

The ageism debate has pointed to the persistence of negative age stereotypes that hinder the prolongation of working lives. However, the actual holders of discriminatory norms have remained largely anonymous because there is limited understanding of the pervasiveness of age norms. This article discusses arguments derived from life course and social norms theory regarding the degree of internalization of age-related norms. The focus is on individual differences in terms of social class and gender. Using 2006 data from the European Social Survey, the article gathers empirical evidence on attitudes towards the timing of retirement in 14 Western European societies. A set of tobit models examines the determinants of retirement age norms for men and women. The results suggest that social class has a strong impact on retirement age norms. Moreover, the analysis reveals a complex pattern of gendered norms concerning the timing of retirement.

The aim of the study was to examine the separate and combined influence of perceived norms, negative reinforcement drinking motives, and social anxiety on alcohol outcomes. Participants ( N = 250) completed measures of injunctive norms, social anxiety, drinking motives, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems. Data collection occurred in 2010. When examined separately, motives emerged as a stronger predictor of alcohol outcomes over norms. When tested jointly, findings suggest that for drinkers higher in social anxiety, normative perceptions are relevant and to such a degree that norms actually supersede their motivation to drink to conform. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Social norms have played a key role in the evolution of human cooperation, serving to stabilize prosocial and egalitarian behavior despite the self-serving motives of individuals. Young children’s behavior mostly conforms to social norms, as they follow adult behavioral directives and instructions. But it turns out that even preschool children also actively enforce social norms on others, often using generic normative language to do so. This behavior is not easily explained by individualistic motives; it is more likely a result of children’s growing identification with their cultural group, which leads to prosocial motives for preserving its ways of doing things.

Building on the normative conduct theory and the extant literature of environmental marketing, this study explores whether eco-friendly consumer behavior in the apparel market is influenced by variations in social norms and by consumer's environmental concern. An online survey was administered with a total of 332 members from a U.S. consumer panel. The results confirm the significant effects of the type of social norms (i.e., injunctive versus descriptive norms) and the level of environmental concern on purchase intentions. Furthermore, the type of environmental marketing claim (i.e., extrinsic versus intrinsic claims) is shown to moderate the positive influences of injunctive norms and of the level of environmental concern on purchase intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The accessibility of attitudes and norms (i.e., how quickly they are activated from memory) has been shown to predict young adult cigarette smoking, but prior work has not examined this effect in young adolescents or with other health risk behaviors. In this study, the accessibility of attitudes and norms was used to predict young adolescent ( N = 325, age M = 14.97, SD = .73) self-reported behavior and behavior intention for cigarette smoking, alcohol use, marijuana smoking, and sexual behavior. The accessibility of attitudes and the accessibility of injunctive norms were significantly related to adolescents’ health risk behavior. When controlling for current behavior, the accessibility of attitudes and of family norms were significantly related to intent to engage in these behaviors in the future. In contrast, the accessibility of peer norms was only related to reports of current behavior, not future behavior intention. This finding replicates across four behaviors when controlling for age, gender, and race, and provides strong evidence that the accessibility of relevant attitudes and social norms are important factors in young adolescent risk behavior. Implications for communication interventions to reduce teen health risk behavior are discussed.

Drinking patterns and rates at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) are not well understood. Social norms and perceptions of risk are two explanatory mechanisms that have accounted for a significant amount of variance in college student drinking at predominantly White campuses. However, these models have not been examined among students who attend an HBCU. Two-hundred and four students from a historically Black university in the Southern region of the United States completed an anonymous questionnaire that assessed their alcohol related behavior, thoughts, and perceptions. Structural equation modeling confirmed the importance of social norms in explaining drinking among the study sample. The overall model accounted for 59% of the variability in alcohol use intensity. Implications for leaders of HBCU campuses and counselors are discussed.

This study explored cognitive elaboration as a moderator of the impact of injunctive and descriptive normative messages on behavioral intentions. Participants ( N = 246) received a message advocating a student health program that stressed either descriptive norms or injunctive norms under conditions of low elaboration or high elaboration and then responded to a series of behavioral intention questions. To determine whether the effects of type of normative message and elaboration varied across personality traits, participants’ level of self-monitoring and extraversion were measured 1–6 months prior to the experimental session. Analyses revealed a 2-way interaction between message type and elaboration, suggesting that descriptive messages were more successful under low-elaboration conditions, whereas injunctive messages were more successful under high-elaboration conditions. This 2-way interaction was not qualified by a 3-way interaction among extraversion, message type, and elaboration or a 3-way interaction among self-monitoring, message type, and elaboration.

Using a social projection paradigm, the present study investigated offenders’ beliefs that “everyone breaks the law.” A modified Tolerance for Law Violations Scale (TLV) was completed by 103 male provincial prison inmates and 135 male nonoffenders. Participants subsequently estimated either the percentage of offenders or nonoffenders who would agree with their responses to each of the 10 items that compose the TLV. As predicted, offenders scored significantly higher on the TLV than nonoffenders, indicating that offenders are more likely to see law violations as acceptable behavior. In addition, offenders significantly overestimated the actual percentage of offenders and nonoffenders who would endorse criminal sentiments and behaviors; that is, offenders believed that criminal conduct was normative behavior for not only offenders but for nonoffenders as well. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of social norms theory and social norms intervention within a prison setting.

Knowledge of students’ alcohol consumption is limited by differences in definitions and a reliance on students’ standard drink calculations. This paper examines the extent of students’ consumption across different measures. Additionally, students’ attitudes towards acceptable consumption are examined to inform public policy and social marketing. Data are presented from 167 and 102 students at two time points 6 months apart, collected using a seven-day reflective web-based diary. Students’ reports of what they drank and how much they consumed were used to estimate standard drink consumption. Findings revealed that students drank excessively: the average largest consumption in one day was 14.27 and 11.21 standard drinks for males and females, respectively, at time-point one. Drinking patterns were consistent over time, although moderate drinkers increased their consumption. As students perceived binge drinking as acceptable, we outline a norms-based intervention that could modify their behaviour.

This article presents a longitudinal study of changes in norms regarding work among the same individuals over a 12-year period. A control group made it possible to examine whether the normative changes that occurred were due to period effect, or life-course effect, or cohort effect. In Israel there were fewer acceptances of norms of ‘obligation’ and ‘entitlement’ in the 1990s than in the 1980s, principally due to cohort effect. In the 1990s young generation expressed fewer acceptances of obligation norms (expressing collectivistic and altruistic values) and of entitlement (expressing social welfare values) than did the young people of the 1980s. Life-course effect had to be taken into consideration too, since with maturity obligation norms are increasingly accepted. Gender proved to have no effect on agreement with expressions of either norm, while higher education contributed to a decrease in acceptance of statements of obligation norms. The changes in norms were compared with trends in the US and Germany. It seems that Israel of the 1990s resembled the US of the 1980s, and this change in norms arose principally from cohort effect.

The theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) suggests that injunctive norms, group identity, outcome expectations, and peer communication moderate this relation between descriptive norms and behavioral intentions. This article extends the TNSB by conceptualizing parental influences (parental monitoring and disapproval) as important moderators in the relationship between descriptive norms and Korean mid-adolescents’ prior drinking behaviors as well as their drinking intentions. A study was conducted among Korean high school students ( N = 538) to assess their normative perceptions, parental monitoring, parental disapproval of drinking, drinking intentions, and past alcohol use. The current study found a significant association between parental monitoring and disapproval, on the one hand, and drinking and intentions, on the other, after controlling for descriptive norms. The results revealed that the harmful effects of adolescents’ perceptions about the prevalence of alcohol consumption among their peers may be mitigated through active parental involvement. When adolescents believed that their parents closely monitored and expressed disapproval of their drinking, they were less likely to be influenced by the high-risk behaviors practiced by their peers.

Bullying attitudes and behaviors and perceptions of peers were assessed in a case study experiment employing a social norms intervention in five diverse public middle schools in the State of New Jersey (Grades 6 to 8). Data were collected using an anonymous online survey (baseline n = 2,589; postintervention n = 3,024). In the baseline survey, students substantially misperceived peer norms regarding bullying perpetration and support for probullying attitudes. As predicted by social norms theory, they thought bullying perpetration, victimization, and probullying attitudes were far more frequent than was the case. Also as predicted, variation in perceptions of the peer norm for bullying was significantly associated with personal bullying perpetration and attitudes. Using print media posters as the primary communication strategy, an intervention displaying accurate norms from survey results was conducted at each of the five school sites. A pre-/postintervention comparison of results revealed significant reductions overall in perceptions of peer bullying and probullying attitudes while personal bullying of others and victimization were also reduced and support for reporting bullying to adults at school and in one’s family increased. The extent of reductions across school sites was associated with the prevalence and extent of recall of seeing poster messages reporting actual peer norms drawn from the initial survey data. Rates of change in bullying measures were highest (from around 17% to 35%) for the school with the highest message recall by students after a one-and-a-half-year intervention. Results suggest that a social norms intervention may be a promising strategy to help reduce bullying in secondary school populations.

Because theory-based research can provide a better understanding of the psychological motivations and reasons why college students intend to engage in illegal digital downloading, this project is conducted from the perspectives of the theory of planned behavior, attitude functional theory and the social norms approach. Based on a survey of 552 college students, results revealed that students who believed that illegal downloading would help save money and was convenient and those who did not want to be termed as being afraid of risk were more likely to download illegally, whereas those who had illegality concerns and high moral standards were less likely to download illegally. In addition, perceived social approval for downloading, but not the perceived frequency of others’ downloading behaviors, predicted intentions to download. This study argues that the integration of the three theoretical frameworks provides more meaningful, yet parsimonious guidance for designing antipiracy campaigns.

Social norms marketing has become a widely used technique for promoting pro-social behaviors, however, little is known about the cognitive changes produced by these interventions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent and durability of changes in normative beliefs following a one-shot social norms communication. Participants were surveyed immediately following the intervention, one week later, and one month later. Results showed that (1) normative beliefs spilled over to behaviors and referents not specified in the original message; (2) communication and self-knowledge both contributed to participants’ normative belief estimates; and (3) the change in normative beliefs over the one-month period was consistent with Miller and Prentice’s (1996) theory of normative belief construction. Possible explanations for the spillover effect are discussed.

This study integrates diverse literatures on peer group influence by conceptualizing and examining the relationship of peer group injunctive norms to the academic adjustment of a large and ethnically diverse sample of rural early adolescents’ academic adjustment. Results of three-level hierarchical linear modeling indicated that peer groups were differentiated by injunctive norms for effort and achievement. After accounting for prior adjustment, peer group injunctive norms predicted changes to students’ school valuation and effort. Peer group injunctive and descriptive norms were moderately correlated; injunctive norms that were more discrepant from descriptive norms were associated with academic adjustment beyond the associations for descriptive norms. Peer group normative relationships did not differ by gender, ethnic minority status, or school configuration. Implications for understanding peer influence and for educational practice are discussed.

There is an ongoing discussion if and how students and lecturers should interact with each other on social networks. In this article, we present an empirical study on the so-called netiquette for Facebook contacts between students and their lecturers (hereinafter called SL-contacts). In addition, we investigated the subjective perception of the majority’s behavior. This enabled a comparison between two different kinds of social norms: the injunctive norms (netiquette) and the descriptive norms (majority). Database was an online survey with 2,849 participants (2,550 students and 299 lecturers). SL-contacts were quite rare in our sample and usually initiated by students. Our results showed that the appropriateness of SL-contacts depends on the individual case. In addition, we found that injunctive and descriptive norms are in line with each other. Overall, our results indicate that there is a common ground of understanding, and SL-contacts are less critical than they might appear.

High-risk drinking, the consumption of 5 or more drinks on one occasion, constitutes a serious public health issue among young adults, particularly college students. In an attempt to address this issue in a cost-effective manner, many universities have implemented social marketing interventions sometimes utilizing social norm theory and in other cases using more traditional strategies. However, some practitioners, school officials, and even researchers incorrectly use the terms social marketing and social norms marketing, interchangeably. Social marketing influences health behavior through the use of marketing principles, such as the use of the 4Ps (product, price, placement, and promotion) to increase knowledge, change attitudes, and motivate individual or societal change. Conversely, social norms represents a specific theory which can be applied using social marketing principles. Social norm interventions are designed to correct peoples' misconceptions concerning the prevalence of a particular behavior. Theorists assert that by providing accurate information concerning the prevalence of the behavior of interest people will alter their behavior to fit the“norm.” Using social marketing approaches with or without social norms theory represents a promising cost-effective strategy for addressing high-risk drinking among college students. However, failing to understand and appreciate the conceptual underpinnings of how these two concepts relate to one another may result in ineffective interventions and conclusions concerning the efficacy of social marketing and/or social norms theory.

Rulers seek to develop legitimacy. Legitimacy is a murky concept, however, and just how rulers might attain it is not well understood. This article explores the implications of conceptualizing legitimacy as a social norm that encourages people to support the ruler. This conceptualization points to the importance of social relations as well as characteristics of the ruler and his or her behavior. These factors together are argued to affect the extent to which norms supporting the ruler are enforced and, in turn, the extent to which people obey and respond to calls to action by the ruler. On this view, a ruler seeking legitimacy should consider (a) the messages he or she sends to citizens about himself or herself and (b) the ways in which his or her policies affect ties between citizens.

A 14-site randomized trial tested the effectiveness of social norms marketing (SNM) campaigns, which present accurate student survey data in order to correct misperceptions of subjective drinking norms and thereby drive down alcohol use. Cross-sectional student surveys were conducted by mail at baseline and at posttest 3 years later. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to examine multiple drinking outcomes, taking into account the nonindependence of students grouped in the same college. Controlling for other predictors, having a SNM campaign was not significantly associated with lower perceptions of student drinking levels or lower self-reported alcohol consumption. This study failed to replicate a previous multisite randomized trial of SNM campaigns, which showed that students attending institutions with a SNM campaign had a lower relative risk of alcohol consumption than students attending control group institutions (W. DeJong et al. J Stud Alcohol. 2006;67:868–879). Additional research is needed to explore whether SNM campaigns are less effective in campus communities with relatively high alcohol retail outlet density.

This research investigates the impact of normative intensity (i.e., strength of feeling) and crystallization (i.e., level of agreement) regarding communication behaviors and perceptions of social sanctions. By adapting the return potential model originally set forth by Jay Jackson, the authors examine perceptions of communication behaviors as a normative opinion process. Telephone survey respondents were asked to offer their own personal opinions regarding several communicative behaviors. By calculating the normative power (NP = Normative Intensity × Crystallization) associated with each of these behaviors, predictions were made regarding the frequency of behavior. The authors also connect normative power with the social costs ascribed to acts falling outside the accepted realm of behavior. Results indicate that public opinion can be seen as a normative process in which the intensity and crystallization of the climate of opinion exert influence on behavior in various communication situations.

Despite a long tradition of effectiveness in laboratory tests, normative messages have had mixed success in changing behavior in field contexts, with some studies showing boomerang effects. To test a theoretical account of this inconsistency, we conducted a field experiment in which normative messages were used to promote household energy conservation. As predicted, a descriptive normative message detailing average neighborhood usage produced either desirable energy savings or the undesirable boomerang effect, depending on whether households were already consuming at a low or high rate. Also as predicted, adding an injunctive message (conveying social approval or disapproval) eliminated the boomerang effect. The results offer an explanation for the mixed success of persuasive appeals based on social norms and suggest how such appeals should be properly crafted.