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The theory of planned behavior was used to predict participants' ( n = 219) sun protection intentions and (longitudinally) self-reported behavior from attitudes, perceptions of control, and subjective norms. Norm focus theory was incorporated by distinguishing injunctive and descriptive norms. In turn, subjective descriptive and injunctive norms were examined in relation to the norms of a salient referent group: university students. Referent group norms were found to be associated with subjective norms, and to influence intentions indirectly. A marginal interaction of referent group descriptive and injunctive norms was also observed on behavior. Results highlight the importance of examining indirect effects in order to capture the effect of group-level processes when multiple sources and levels of normative influence are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthy eating intentions were assessed as a function of theory of planned behavior variables and manipulated group norm salience. Participants ( n = 119) were exposed (or not) to a positive injunctive norm that their fellow students approve of eating healthily, and (or not) to a negative descriptive norm that their fellow students do not eat healthily. A significant interaction emerged. When a negative descriptive norm was made salient, participants exposed to a positive injunctive norm reported significantly lower intentions to eat healthily. When no descriptive norm was given, exposure to a positive injunctive norm had no effect. The results suggest the weakness of manipulated injunctive norm salience in the health domain, and the importance of investigating the interactive effects of referent group norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Two experiments examine the interplay of injunctive and descriptive norms on intentions to engage in pro-environmental behavior. In Experiment 1, Australian participants were exposed to supportive or unsupportive group descriptive and injunctive norms about energy conservation. Results revealed that a conflict between the group-level injunctive and descriptive norm was associated with weaker behavioral intentions: The beneficial effects of a supportive injunctive norm were undermined when presented with an unsupportive descriptive norm. Experiment 2 replicated this effect in both a Western (UK) and non-Western (China) context, and found that the extent to which norms were aligned or not determined intentions even after controlling for attitudes, perceptions of control, and interpersonal-level injunctive and descriptive norms. These experiments demonstrate that conflict between injunctive and descriptive norms leads to weaker intentions to engage in pro-environmental behavior, highlighting the need to consider the interplay between injunctive and descriptive norms to understand how norms influence behavioral intentions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present research investigated three approaches to the role of norms in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Two studies examined the proposed predictors of intentions to engage in household recycling (Studies 1 and 2) and reported recycling behaviour (Study 1). Study 1 tested the impact of descriptive and injunctive norms (personal and social) and the moderating role of self-monitoring on norm-intention relations. Study 2 examined the role of group norms and group identification and the moderating role of collective self on norm-intention relations. Both studies demonstrated support for the TPB and the inclusion of additional normative variables: attitudes; perceived behavioural control; descriptive; and personal injunctive norms (but not social injunctive norm) emerged as significant independent predictors of intentions. There was no evidence that the impact of norms on intentions varied as a function of the dispositional variables of self-monitoring (Study 1) or the collective self (Study 2). There was support, however, for the social identity approach to attitude-behaviour relations in that group norms predicted recycling intentions, particularly for individuals who identified strongly with the group. The results of these two studies highlight the critical role of social influence processes within the TPB and the attitude-behaviour context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors used a revised planned behavior model in the consumer domain. The revised model incorporated separate measures of descriptive and injunctive/prescriptive norms, self-identity, and past behavior in an effort to improve the predictive power of the theory of planned behavior (TPB; I. Ajzen, 1985) in relation to a self-reported consumer behavior: purchasing one's preferred soft drink. At Time 1, respondents (N = 112) completed self-report measures of (a) attitudes, (b) perceived behavioral control, (c) descriptive and injunctive/prescriptive norms, (d) self-identity, (e) past behavior, and (f) intentions. The authors assessed self-reported behavior 1 week later (Time 2). Attitudes, injunctive/prescriptive norms, descriptive norms, past behavior, and self-identity were all positively related to purchase intentions, and intentions were predictive of self-reported behavior at Time 2. These findings highlight the utility of the TPB in the consumer domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compelling quality of the Global Change simulation study ( ), in which high RWA (right-wing authoritarianism)/high SDO (social dominance orientation) individuals produced poor outcomes for the planet, rests on the inference that the link between high RWA/SDO scores and disaster in the simulation can be generalized to real environmental and social situations. However, we argue that studies of the Person × Situation interaction are biased to overestimate the role of the individual variability. When variables are operationalized, strongly normative items are excluded because they are skewed and kurtotic. This occurs both in the measurement of predictor constructs, such as RWA, and in the outcome constructs, such as prejudice and war. Analyses of normal linear statistics highlight personality variables such as RWA, which produce variance, and overlook the role of norms, which produce invariance. Where both normative and personality forces are operating, as in intergroup contexts, the linear analysis generates statistics for the sample that disproportionately reflect the behavior of the deviant, antinormative minority and direct attention away from the baseline, normative position. The implications of these findings for the link between high RWA and disaster are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most experiments on conformity have been conducted in relation to judgments of physical reality; surprisingly few papers have experimentally examined the influence of group norms on social issues with a moral component. In response to this, participants were told that they were either in a minority or in a majority relative to their university group in terms of their attitudes toward recognition of gay couples in law (Expt 1: N 205) and a government apology to Aborigines (Expt 2: N 110). In both experiments, it was found that participants who had a weak moral basis for their attitude conformed to the group norm on private behaviours. In contrast, those who had a strong moral basis for their attitude showed non-conformity on private behaviours and counter-conformity on public behaviours. Incidences of nonconformity and counter-conformity are discussed with reference to theory and research on normative influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was undertaken to assess the utility of revisions to the theories of reasoned action/planned behavior in the context of HIV-preventive behaviors. Revisions to the models incorporated the addition of group norm (behavioral norm and group attitude) to the normative component of the reasoned action model and the distinction among three aspects (self-efficacy, perceived behavioral control, and planning) of the control component of the theory of planned behavior. Respondents were 211 sexually experienced heterosexual undergraduates. The study employed a longitudinal design, with the proposed predictors of performing the behaviors under consideration (using a condom every time you have sexual intercourse during the next month and discussing whether to use a condom with any new partners during the next month) assessed prior to the measures of reported behavior. Consistent with expectations, group norm emerged as a distinctive predictor (in addition to attitude and subjective norm) of intentions to practice both safer sex behaviors. The data also revealed some support for the distinction among the different measures of control. The results of the study suggest that the normative component of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior should be revised to incorporate more subtle influences of the referent group and that tests of theory of planned behavior should distinguish among the different aspects of behavioral control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]